One Year Later
by CassieMarie2015
Summary: The girls have been missing for almost a year now and no one has a clue where they are. A has been keeping them in the dollhouse, with no intentions of letting them go. Their loved ones won't quit until they find them, but how long will A handle knowing they won't stop. Mention of all couples as well as their families. Ezria/Haleb/Spoby/Emison.
1. Almost One Year

"It has now been almost a year since the four Rosewood teen girls have been abducted. With no new leads, police are reminding viewers to report any suspicious activity or any information. Many people are starting to lose hope. Those not losing hope, the families who truly believe that one day, their girls will come home."

"We won't stop until we have our girls back. Someone out there knows something and we ask that they please come forward. We just want our daughter back." Veronica told a reporter as she walked past them on her way into the police station, along with Peter, Byron, Ella, Ashley, Tom, Pam and Wayne.

"Knowing that someone out there has my friends and is doing this to them when they didn't do anything wrong is the hardest part. I just want my friends back." Ali almost cried before being led into the station by her dad.

"Lieutenant Tanner said they are heightening efforts in hopes of bringing the missing girl's home soon, before they hit the one year mark."

"We will spare no expense, and believe me, when we find who is doing this, they will be brought to justice."

"We will of course be bringing you continuous coverage of any developing news on this investigation. Now, new at six ….."

* * *

Veronica turned the TV on mute and the room around her went back to work after pausing to watch the story.

The Hastings household had become a bit of a command center in the search for the girls. It had been like this for the past few months once the investigation outgrew the largest conference room at the Police Station.

Peter and Veronica liked having everything in one spot, and more importantly, in one spot that could be easily protected by police and the very expensive security system the Hastings has put in. After the past year, they felt as if they could never be too careful. All of the parents and family members agreed. The parents tired to stay together and be a support system for each other just as the girls had always been for each other. They all still have to live their normal lives as best as they could.

The outside world kept going, but it was as if once you stepped foot in each of the girls homes, nothing had changed. None of the girls rooms had been changed, even a little bit. Some of the parents spent time in their daughters rooms as a way to feel close to them, others, couldn't even look, or open the door. It just hurt too much to think they might never come home and sleep in their own beds again.

Toby, Ezra, Caleb and Alison spent more time together than apart, working tirelessly to figure out where the girls were, all while being taunted by A. Whoever had the girls kept sending cryptic messages and nonspecific pictures. None of the pictures ever showed the girls in full, just bits and pieces so you could tell who it was, but never what shape they were in and never their faces. They always feared the worst but kept the thought in the back of their mind that A wouldn't be taunting them if the girls weren't still alive. They still had no idea what A's motive was and, even though the thought scared them all, why A had kept them alive this long.

Tanner had built an entire task force that's sole job was finding the girls. Ezra, Caleb and Alison were included and given special access into the police database to try and do whatever they could. Tanner couldn't deny that they were the ones who would know about A and the girls the best, them along with Toby would be a huge help in bring the girls home. When Tanner forced them to go home and try not to think about the investigation, they would go home, but do the opposite and hunker down at Toby's loft until they were okay to go back to the Hastings Residence.

Caleb was combing through technical stuff that no one tried to understand. Most nights he would fall asleep in his office, wake up and just keep on going. He only stopped to eat and drink when he absolutely had to and that was only because Alison made him.

Alison had taken on the role of keeping the boys feed and hydrated and not falling over dead from lack of sleep. She helped out in other ways that she could, talking through ideas and helping bounce things off of each other but, if she wasn't there, she was almost positive the boys would have run themselves ragged by now. Those two had the luxury of the investigation being able to be the sole focus of their lives. Ezra, wasn't so lucky.

Ezra only left when things desperately needed to be handled at The Brew. There were moments where The Brew was enough to distract Ezra from everything that was going on and give him the small break where he could pretend that Aria was still there and everything was normal. Everyday that they didn't have any new leads on where the girls were, it got harder and harder for him to have faith and harder for him to forget that Aria wasn't there and that he had no idea if she was safe … or alive. He of course played a game with himself. If he had gone to the Police about A … if he had been quicker to get the gun away from Shauna … if …. If Alison had never come back or if he had never spoken to Aria that day in the bar. Part of him will always feel responsible for the small part he played in Allison feeling like she had to stay away so long and keep the game going.

Today was like any other day.

Ezra was at one end of the loft going through his research for what felt like the millionth time, trying to find anything he could have missed and seeing if anything went along with the newest A texts they had been sent. Ezra had had a pit in his stomach the last few days when none of the texts or pictures mentioned or showed Aria. It had never been like this and none of them wanted to admit that something might have happened to her. Alison and Caleb had mentioned it to eachother, but didn't dare say anything to Ezra. The multiple holes that Toby has had to fix in his drywall were enough to keep him in the dark about their suspicions.

Caleb was at the other end, tracing the signal from something when Allison tore into the apartment looking frantic.

Both guys jumped up at her sudden entrance.

"Guys …. Toby needs us at the Spencers right now …."

"Did they find them?" "What's going on?" They both asked.

"I don't know. All I know is that Toby called me and said that Tanner wants all of us to get there as soon as possible and neither of you were answering your phones."

"We turned them off so it didn't interfear with the trace I was doing …" Caleb said, inwardly beating himself up.

Both turned their phones back on and were immediately swarmed with missed calls and text messages.

"Let's go." Ezra said quickly.

"I'll drive." Allison said before leading them out of the loft.

* * *

The Hastings Household was so packed with people, it was almost hard to move. It looked like every single person involved in the investigation plus a number of extra police backup had been called in to hear what Tanner had to say. As soon as Tanner saw them walk into the room, she began.

"Now that everyone is here, we got a called from a State Trooper at Tyler State Park. A camper reported seeing large amounts of smoke coming from a nearby area. What they found was what looks like a fire from an underground facility. Problem is it is guarded by an electric fence that we are having a hard time getting through."

"What does this have to go with the girls?"

"Well for the past few days we have been monitoring the park after troopers reported suspicious noises and activity and then yesterday, we were able to trace a signal from a message sent to Officer Cavenaugh."

"What did the message say?" Caleb immediately asked. This was news to them, so it must have just happened recently.

"It's time to end this. See if you all can smoke me out before it chokes them out."

Only the people that needed to know knew that A was the person who had the girls. That was basically Tanner, the parents, Caleb, Toby, Allison and a few select people of the task force. They didn't even need to ask if the message was from A. It fit right into their matra. They figured if A knew more people were involved, that wouldn't end well for any of the girls and this message must mean that A had figured out that more people were involved and was pissed.

"Now we are working as quick as we can to get access to the area to investigate and see if this is where the girls are. We are heading there now, all of you have your assignments as to where to go. Keep in constant contact and report anything."

Everyone most quickly as the three moved over to Tanner.

"Where do you want us?" Caled asked as they moved out of the house towards a waiting van.

"You three are coming with me and Cavenaugh. If this is where the girls are, you four have the most experience with A and are most likely to keep the girls calm. The parents would be too emotional and these girls are going to be traumatized most likly. The parents will be waiting in an area of the park close by if we need them. They aren't happy one bit, but they get it." Tanner continued after they all got into one van with a few other officers and started driving. "We have electricians at the site now working with the fire department to try and get access. We don't -" Tanner was cut off by a call coming over the radio.

"We're through the fence. Smoke is getting thicker. What is your ETA?"

"Tanner pulling into the park right now. Be there in less than two minutes." she said quickly before turning back to Caleb, Toby, Alison and Ezra.

"We are sending in the fire crews with police first to evaluate the area and find the source of the smoke. Once it's safe, we will go in and look around more and try to find the girls. I am pretty confident that this is where the girls are and A figured out more than just you four are involved."

The van pulled up outside of a large 20 foot high metal fence. The police officers and Tanner piled out of the van, heading for the bunker. Tanner stopped when she saw the four of them trying to follow her.

"All of you guys stay back until we have deemed everything safe." Toby tried to object but Tanner quickly shut him down. "Don't even try Cavenaugh, you knew once it got to this point we were going to be keeping you at a distance."

Toby wanted to object but he understood. It had been a fight to continue to let him be as involved as he had been and if he was being honest, he didn't know what they would find down there and he was scared how he would react if/when they found Spencer and the others.

The police ran into the double doors and the wait was agonizing.

The seconds went by like hours until finally …. They heard yelling coming from the bunker.

"We've found something …."


	2. 6 Months - Christmas

**6 Months Earlier …**

 **December 2012**

The girls had been missing for 6 months now.

Christmas was right around the corner, but none of the families felt like celebrating.

The past few months had been some of the hardest in their lives.

Their daughters had been abducted while being transferred to a prison facility after being arrested in connection with Mona's murder, which they now know was staged since there is proof that Mona is still alive and also being held captive with the girls. Alisons conviction had been overturned and she had been aiding in the search for her friends, while dealing with the fact that a large part of all of this was her fault, something that the parents can't let go of. They know that if they had known all along that Mona was alive, Alison would have never gone on trial and their daughters would have never been arrested and put into the situation where they could have been abducted. The 'what if' game was something all of the loved ones did, even though it drove all of them crazy.

Each family had different ways of dealing with the what-ifs and unknowns of the girls being gone and how it was going to affect their holiday and the time moving forward.

* * *

 **Montgomery**

In the Montgomery household things were very quiet. Each member of the family took to different parts of the house to be with their thoughts and deal with the pain.

Byron was in his makeshift office in the family room when he wasn't at the Hastings household. He had taken a sabbatical from Hollis, which everyone at the university understood. He said he was working on personal projects but everyone knew that it was hard to concentrate on teaching when all your thoughts were spent wondering where his daughter was. It was also hard to teach when all anyone, students and staff, wanted to talk to him about was the investigation and who he thought had taken the girls. It was easier for him to take time off and just be home with his family.

Ella tried to keep herself busy, hence why their house was the most decorated for the holiday that both Byron and Mike could remember. Ella kept saying she wanted to house to be festive and a happy place in case Aria came home. The idea that maybe, just maybe Aria would be home was enough to keep her going.

Mike spent most of the time that he wasn't in school, in his room or his therapist office. He was having a hard time dealing with the fact that not only was his sister missing but so was the girl he was in love with. He had gone through all the emotions of thinking Mona was dead, only to find out that she was alive and being held captive with his sister and her friends.

Weirdly enough, his main distraction came from throwing himself into school. It was enough it make him forget, even if just a little while. He had also found an unlikely friend in Ezra. Mike found it was really easy for him to talk to Ezra about everything he was feeling and Ezra enjoyed the tutoring that Mike would need from time to time as his form of distraction. His friendship with Ezra also helped Ella and Byron really warm up to the idea of Ezra being with Aria. They knew they had broken up before she was taken but none the less he was working himself ragged to help find her. They knew he still loved her and they were looking forward to when Aria came home partly so those two could work things out.

You often hear when families go through tragedy, parents and families split apart.

Three months after the girls were taken, Byron and Ella one day figured out that the reasons they weren't together, weren't important. They realized they needed each other to get through what would probably be the hardest time of their life and after Ella moved back in, things flowed back to normal fairly easy. Well - maybe normal wasn't the right word. Nothing about their life anymore was normal.

* * *

 **Hastings**

Veronica and Peter threw themselves into work. They had the advantage that the command center for the investigation into the girl's disappearance had been moved into the barn behind their house. It had outgrown the police station and as time went on, everyone realized they were going to need a bigger space that could be better protected.

Peter for the most part kept himself locked in his study in the house, only coming out when absolutely necessary. He couldn't believe that this had happened and that he had failed again to protect his family, something that he wasn't sure he would able to get over as easily this time.

Things between him and Veronica had been tense. Things between them had always been tense, but more so since Spencer went missing. They hardly talked and when they did, they were usually fighting after people went home for the night. The secrets they both had kept from each other had started to come out and they didn't know how to deal with it. Both of them knew that they were basically staying together for appearances, hoping to show their daughter a strong family when she came home.

If she came home, he had to keep reminding himself.

Melissa was there a lot in the beginning but after while it started to become too hard and has since spent more time in London with Wren. She too couldn't get over the small part she played in all of this. Everything really stems from the night Ali went missing and Melissa knew her killing Bethany didn't help the situation.

Melissa and Wren were coming home for Christmas, but weren't staying for long. Rosewood had stopped feeling like home to them a long time ago.

* * *

 **Fields**

The army had finally allowed Wayne to come home after Emily and the girls had been gone for three months. Pam was so thankful, breaking down and running to him when he came walking down the airplane terminal. She had been staying with Ashley up until that point because being in the house alone was just too much for her. She couldn't handle walking by Emily's room everyday and sleeping in her bed alone. Ashley and Pam bonded over the fact that their daughters were their only child and without them there, there wasn't anything else to distract them from them being gone.

Pam and Wayne were at the Hastings quite a bit, helping out with the investigation as much as they could. The biggest tasks they helped with the sorting through the hundreds upon hundreds of tips that came in every day.

The case had started to gain national attention and with that came more tips than they could possibly process through. All the parents took turns working through the tips, needing to take breaks because of course there were times when it all became too much.

Pam spent time really thinking back on almost every conversation that she had ever had with her daughter. Especially the ones after she came out. How she wished she could go back and change how she handled those situations. When Emily came home, she promised herself she would apologize for how she handled everything and work on repairing her relationship with her daughter.

* * *

 **Marin**

Ashley was probably having the hardest time of any of the parents. She had to be admitted to the hospital a few times for dehydration and emotional issues, only having to stay a day or two.

She spent most of her time in Hanna's room, laying in the bed or just walking around looking at the various pictures and Hanna's things, hoping that one day her daughter would get to come home to this room again.

In the beginning, Pam had been staying with her and having the company helped, but once Wayne came back and they went back home, she realized quickly that beinging along was not going to work. She called Tom and he came running, much to the dismay of Isabel.

Tom and Ashley both knew that their relationship would never be romantic again and that he was just there as emotional support. He too was being torn up about where his daughter was and why someone would want to do this to her. He had to commute back and forth sometimes for work but for the most part was able to work from Rosewood.

She also had a hard time going over to the Hastings house to help with the investigation. It hurt her too much to see all the boards and theories and especially blow ups of the photos and text messages they had all been sent. The look in all of their daughters eyes was something that was going to stay with her for a long long time.

* * *

As the Christmas holiday got closer, all of the parents wondered how to handle the day. It wasn't until the day before Christmas Eve that they had to accept that the girls wouldn't be home. They all decided the best thing would be to be together and they planned a dinner for Christmas Eve at the Marin house.

Everyone was invited. All of the parents plus Ali and her family, Melissa, Wren, Jason, Mike, Toby, Caleb, and Ezra.

They had all made this makeshift family during the past 6 months.

Dinner was mostly quiet, everyone making idle chit chat, not wanting to admit that while this was better than being home alone, none of them wanted to talk.

The silence was interrupted by all of their phones ringing with a new text.

Instantly, this made them all freeze. They knew what this meant and they were scared about what they were about to see. They all pulled out their phones and were met with a photo of each other their specific loved one. It showed each of the girls cowered in a stone corner, wrapped in a sheet, looking cold and very scared. With the photo came a text that said, "Hope you all are enjoying your christmas … I know the girls are. The first of many holidays you will have to get used to having without them. -A"

All of the moms burst into tears and the dads were in shock that quickly turned into anger.

"How much longer are we going to be tortured with this? What does this person want?" Peter yelled as he got up from the table and started pacing the room.

"From what I know of A, they are doing this to entertain themselves. This person sees them as their own personal dolls, at least that's the feel we've gotten from all the texts we've been sent." Caleb said.

"This is all because of are scared out of their minds and not here will us all because of me." Ali said before breaking down into tears and leaving the table to go to the living room to calm down. Her dad followed behind in hopes of consoling his daughter.

"I never thought they would be gone this long." Ella said through her tears.

"A has never done something this long term before. This has gone beyond anything I thought they were capable of." Ezra said looking disheveled and at a loss for words.

"None of us thought they would be gone this long. What gets me is why is this person taunting us? Don't they get that just knowing that they are gone is bad enough?" Veronica said in a huff.

Toby stood up and then put his hands on the back of his chair and leaned forward. "That's what A wants. They want to drive you crazy and taunt you knowing that it is making you miserable."

"A wants to push us to our limits." Ashley said.

"Basically" Ezra said with no emotion.

"We're going to bring them home." Toby said before walking out to the terrace to get some fresh air.

The room went quiet again, some still looking at the photos, others clinging to each other and crying. For all of them, they had hoped for one night they could enjoy a meal together and just for a second ….. Not forget …. But maybe have a peaceful moment.

That text from A reminded them that this game wasn't meant for them to ever have a peaceful moment and A was trying their best to make sure that none of them had a peaceful moment ever again.

 **A sat behind computer monitors, eating a spread of roast beef, corn, mashed potatoes and stuffing, watching as the girls cried in their beds as soft Christmas music played in the background.**

* * *

I just wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone who reviewed, Favorited, or altered this story. It means more to me than you can possibly know! I am working on this story as much as I can but right now, the show is kinda making me mad so writing is kinda hard, even though this story isn't even in the same time frame. I am just ready at this point to know who A.D. is ... and then watch the entire series again to try and figure out how the heck I missed it.

Please review letting me know what you think and what you would like to see moving forward.

Also, i'd love to hear what some of your A.D. theories are and who you think killed Charlotte and who you think the other wedding will be?

Thanks guys!


	3. What's In The Bunker?

_Previously …_

 _The police ran into the double doors and the wait was agonizing._

 _The seconds went by like hours until finally …. They heard yelling coming from the bunker._

" _We've found something …."_

* * *

The four ran straight into the bunker, not caring about what they might find, just wanting to get to their girls as soon as possible.

When they met up with Tanner, she was standing at the beginning of a hallway with 5 doors that were all ajar just slightly.

"You guys can come, you just have to stay behind us."

Tanner walked slowly down the hallway with her gun raised, with Toby right behind her.

All of them held their breath as they reached the first door. The surrounding police officers all look to Tanner, waiting for her okay to move in. She gave a slight nod and a few officer moved into the rooms, slower than Ezra, Alison, Toby and Caleb thought but once they thought about it, realized they didn't know what they were going to walk into and it could be one of the girls, scared out of their minds. When the four of them entered the room, none of them were expecting what they found.

They looked around what looked liked an exact replica of Hanna's bedroom. There were pictures and books and clothes around that Caleb recognized as things that had gone missing over the last few months. What shocked them the most ….. Hanna was nowhere to be found.

"Where the hell is she?" Caleb yelled.

"That is a very good question." Tanner said as she moved out of the room, "Search every inch of this damn bunker and find them," She yelled as the team dispersed.

As they moved to each room, they were met with replicas of each of the girls rooms. All of them knew it was a good idea that the parents didn't come along. They would not be able to handle all of this. Something they didn't want to acknowledge as they moved from room to room was the evidence that some truly horrible things had happened here. Some rooms were in more disarray than others, showing that girls did not leave of their own accord and didn't go without a fight. In each room there were faint stains of what everyone hoped wasn't blood but life has taught them that they weren't going to get off that easy.

Alison was confused when they walked into the room that was a replica of her own. The only person's room it could have been would be Mona's who they had seen from the photos had been made to dye her hair blonde and was frequently seen with the infamous yellow top.

As they moved through the bunker, they found another room filled with games and another that was a replica of Allison's living room. The last room at the end of the call was made to look like an old school movie theatre with a big screen at one end with the note they had all been fearing they were going to find.

"You really think I would give them up that easily, think again. Good luck trying to find them this time." - A

"Damn it," Ezra yelled, echoing the thoughts of everyone in the room. They all were upset that they had been lead on a wild goose chase by A and were now probably farther away than ever to finding the girls.

"We are going to bring down a forensics team to gather evidence. Why don't you guys head back to the Hastings House. I think the news about the girls would be better coming from you guys." Tanner said.

They all agreed but no one really moved. Even though the bunker had been a place of horror for the girls, Ezra, Toby, Caleb and Alison felt closer to them in that moment than they had felt to the in a very long time. One by one they headed out into the hallway and into the room of their loved one. Thinking this was the last place they had been and that this was the place that they had gone through something terrible, was more than some could take.

 **Ezra POV**

How could we have been so stupid. Of course this was all a part of A's plan. I'm mad at myself for getting my hopes up. As I walked around Aria's room, well I couldn't really call this Aria's room, it was really more like her cell. I walked over to her bed and picked up the picture frame that was on the night stand.

It was a picture of the two of them. The photo was from shortly before she was taken. He had his arms wrapped protectively around her and she had her head hidden in his chest up you could still see the bright smile she had on her face, one that mirrored the one also on his face in the picture. Someone had caught the picture while they had been laughing about something. I hadn't even realized the tears that had started to flow as I looked at the photo. Would I ever get to hold her like that again? Would we ever be in a place where I could get her to smile and move on from everything that she had been through?

 **Caleb POV**

None of this made any sense. Why would A basically give away their location, only to run? Of course, this really shouldn't be all that much of a shock. A loved to played games. All I wanted was to have Hanna back in my arms. As I walked around her room, I saw the remain of broken furniture and picture frames. Knowing Hanna, i'm sure she wanted to get rid of anything A gave her to try and make her feel at home. Hanna didn't want this be home. All I had to do know was try with everything he had to bring her back home …. To her real home … with me.

 **Allison POV**

I will never be able to forgive myself if anything happens to them. They were all in this situation because of me. As I walked between the room that looked like mine and Emily's my heart broke all over again. I can't imagine everything they were going through and how scared they must be. How would I ever be able to go back to my room now knowing that something that looked like it was used as a form of torture for my best friends?

While I had developed a deep friendship with Ezra, Toby and Caleb, nothing compared to the friendship I had in Emily, Aria, Hanna and Spencer. I needed them so much and I don't know how much longer I was going to be able to last now knowing where they are.

 **Toby POV**

As I entered the room that looked like Spencer's, I was again greeted by a stain on the floor larger than in any other of the rooms that was a faint red color that could really only be left by one thing. It trailed from the closet over to the bed. On the walls you could see where Spencer had tried to bang on the door with blood covered hands as a way to get out.

I hoped once forensics came in they could confirm that it wasn't blood and maybe just paint as a way to freak us out.

As I looked around, I tried to take in as many details as I could to try and piece together what the hell happened.

 **Hastings Household**

The ride back to the Hastings house was silent. No one really knew what to say and all were wondering how they were going to tell everyone that they had been so close to the girls but now they were farther away than ever.

When the car pulled up to the house, it took a few moments before anyone moved.

As they expected all of the parents were gathered in the living room waiting for them and all jumped the second they all walked into the room. The moms all burst into tears as soon as they saw them, knowing that if they were all there they didn't find the girls.

"It was a trap. A lead us to the bunker where the girls had been held but they were already long gone." Caleb said bluntly not being able to hide his frustration or disgust with the situation.

"What exactly did you find?" Byron asked.

"Why don't we all sit down. This is going to be a lot of information." Ezra said. Everyone sat down around the room before he continued. "It looked like the girls were being held in rooms that were replicas of their bedrooms. A had things from their rooms here probably trying to make them at home there."

"So whoever this person is, has been in our homes to steal things from us?" Veronica yelled.

"Looks like it. From the looks of the bunker, A has been building this probably long before the girls were taken." Toby added.

"There were other rooms. One had a set of switches with each girl's photo, probably used for some kind of" Caleb paused, not really wanting to say the word. "Some kind of torture. Another one was filled with games that A had made up and probably made the girls play and one looked like an old school movie theatre which is where we found the A message telling us that the girls weren't there. There were other rooms too that we didn't see. Tanner thought it was best to send us back here while the forensics team investigated."

"There was a room that looked like my bedroom. I think that is where A has been keeping Mona. From what we've gathered she had been given my identity. There was also a room that looked exactly like my living room."

"So it basically is like a big dollhouse house." Tom said.

"Basically." Ezra said with a sigh.

"So where do we go from here?" Wayne said from the far side of the room where he had Pam gathered in his arms as she cried in his chest.

"We assume A is going to start taunting us again and we start over. We won't stop until we bring the girls home." Toby said before heading towards the back doors and out to the barn. Everyone followed, ready to get started again.

* * *

 **I know it is a bit shorter but I wanted to get something out to you guys. Thank you again for all the love and support you've given this story. It makes me want to continue writing more and more. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I promise to get more to you as soon as I can.**


	4. Christmas In The Dollhouse

**Thanks again for your amazing response to this story. I have been very inspired lately so hopefully I will be getting chapters out to you more quickly.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **December 2012**

Just like the air outside, the air inside the bunker was ice cold and unwelcoming. Air was the only things that moved through the hallways of the dollhouse, its inhabitants hiding in their rooms, now having gotten to the point that they were too scared of what laid outside their doors to venture out.

Even if that meant they didn't get to see each other. To them, it felt like they had been apart for months.

Each of them heard the generators shut down each night but have long since stopped coming out of their rooms except when A called for them.

When they were called, they were brought to a room where on a table was a switch with each girls picture. They would have to choose a different girl to receive a different punishment. One day it would be to pick who wouldn't get water, or who wouldn't get food. Some days, A would just say to pick one and they wouldn't know what the punishment was. If they didn't pick one, they all would receive the punishment.

What they didn't know what that A always gave them all food and water. This was more about making the girls pick and trying to turn them against one another. A's version of fun was playing mind games and seeing how far they could push them until they cracked.

The girls had lost track of how long they had been gone. Spencer kept a tally on a piece of paper she had found in her room. Her guess was they had been gone for six months and that Christmas was probably soon. She was right. Most of the girls had the same idea and the thought that they weren't going to be with their families for Christmas broke their hearts more than anything.

Was this going to be their lives now? Long drawn out days with nothing to do but stare at walls waiting for the next ding? Them just basically counting down the days until A killed them or they went crazy? None of them could figure what they could have done that was so bad that someone would want to do this to them, but then this was A they were talking about and it didn't take much to give them a reason to torture you.

Down deep in the depths of the bunker, A sat behind a wall of computers, watching each of the girls in their rooms.

The silence in the room was interrupted with a door opening and closing and two people walking towards the screens. The new people came and sat down in the two other chairs positioned in front of the monitors.

"Everything is set up in the room. What are you planning on doing to them anyway?" One of the people asked, though he didn't really care.

"Nothing really. Just want to freak them out. Get them one step closer to their breaking point and one step closer to spending the rest of their lives in Radley."

"Sounds like you. Have they done anything interesting?" The other person added.

"All they do is freaking cry, they are being dramatic, so … no. You think they would be used to this by now." A said with no emotion or remorse.

"Want me to start filtering the sleeping gas into their rooms?" The first person asked.

"Already done."

* * *

 **Christmas Eve Morning**

The girls were slowly coming out of what felt like the deepest sleep any of them had ever had. When they woke up, they realized they were in a stone cold room, wrapped in nothing but a white sheet, propped up against a wall.

A had done things like this to them before, waking up in various places around the dollhouse in various states of dress. Every time they woke up after the first time, they were by themselves and had no evidence of injury. For them, this was almost scarier since it made them wonder what had happened while they were out and if they had done something they couldn't remember.

The isolation, especially today which they guessed was Christmas Eve, was starting to get to them. Spencer was starting to get to the state equal to when she thought that she had found Toby in the woods. She just sat in the corner staring at the wall, really hitting the point where she doesn't care anymore. Hanna was pissed. She moved around the room screaming her head off, banging on the door, yelling to A to let her out, while holding the sheet with one hand to keep herself covered. Aria was hyperventilating and crying, wanting nothing more than to be with her family and Ezra. Emily was curled up in a ball, with silent tears. Mona ponders how she could have come all the way from being the one who started the game to the one being tortured. All she wanted was to go back home and go back to a normal life with her mom … and with Mike. She didn't realize until all of this happened how much she loved him. She knew she was a lot of things to a lot of people, she knew a lot of people might not be all that sad that she was gone, but she was only one thing to Mike and she felt so bad that she had hurt him. She hoped that soon they would get out of here and she would get a chance to make it right.

One by one, A let's them go back to their rooms. Each of them were met with a present on their bed.

When they opened it, it was a box of things from their room at home along with newspaper articles and copies of interviews with their families and loved ones about how much they missed them and all the hurt and turmoil they had been going through. This was not the first time A had done this, each time it hit the girls all over against what their parents were going through and how A really was setting them up to never be allowed out again.

Hanna's immediate response was to trash everything. The state of her room showed that every time A gave her something, she would immediately get rid of it, minus one picture of her and Caleb and one picture of her mom. She would spend a lot of time staring at them, envisioning all the conversations she would have with them if she ever got the chance to.

Aria didn't get too far into the box. On top was a photo of her house all decorated for christmas with her family having dinner together and laughing at something. Ezra was with them and A had made it look like they were doing fine without her. She changed into some pj's and quickly curled up into the bed without going any farther into the box.

Spencer didn't even open the box. She just changed, moved the box, and curled up in the bed, staring at the ceiling.

Emily held tightly to each thing she pulled from the box. She lined the pictures up on her desk so she could see them from her bed and brought one of her mom and dad back with her. She missed her dad so much. She was glad her mom had him to help her through all of this.

A again was watching from behind the monitors. Their plan was going perfectly. They wondered how far they would be able to push them before they broke.

* * *

 **Christmas Day**

The girls were all awoken suddenly with a large beeping rang through the bunker. Once they were all awake, a voice came over the bunker.

"Please follow the lighted pathway for your Christmas celebration …. Please follow the lighted pathway for your Christmas celebration."

All of the girls heard their doors unlock, but were scared to make a move. Slowly they all made their way to the door and out into the hallway. The moment they all saw each other, they instantly ran into a group hug, holding onto each other so tight, but not causing pain. Throughout their whole lives, they had never gone so long without seeing each other. After everything they had been through, they weren't going to question why A was doing this for them and enjoy every second they got to spend with each other. Even though Mona wasn't part of their group, everyone was happy to see her too and know that they all were okay.

"I missed you guys so much." Hanna said through her tears.

"We missed you too." Mona said.

"Can we agree that we don't talk about what we went through." Aria asked.

"Yea. I don't want anyone to ever have to talk about that." Emily said.

"Please follow the lighted pathway to your Christmas celebration." The voice over the intercom repeated as the lights along the hallway flashed.

They all separated but held onto each other's hands and moved down the hall towards the room they knew looked like Ali's living room. When they walked in, they were surprised that nothing terrifying greeted them.

There was a big Christmas tree on the far side of the room with a few presents underneath. On the other side of the room there was food laid out. The room was nicely decorated like something straight out of a Christmas Hallmark movie.

"Do we trust this or do we just go with it?" Mona asked.

"I'm not sure. When does A do anything nice?" Spencer said while they moved around the room.

"Guys, look at this." Emily said as she found a note on the piano. "I can be nice every once in awhile. Enjoy today for however long I decide. Who knows when I will let you all see each other again. Merry Christmas Bitches. - A"

"Seriously, we get to have Christmas?" Aria said in shock.

"Looks like it." Spencer said.

The group moved to the couch and the floor. Spencer, Aria and Emily sat together on the couch with Mona and Hanna right below them on the floor. They all quickly arranged themselves so they were all touching at least two of the others. After everything they went through, if their time together was limited, they were going to enjoy every second they had.

"What do you think our parents are doing today?" Mona asked to break the silence.

"A put a picture of my parents, Mike and Ezra having dinner together in my room yesterday. My guess is that they are either altogether, or suffering in silence at home." Aria said through tears that had started to fall.

"I can't even imagine what they are going through."

"My mom had to be put in the hospital. My dad is staying with her now but she had to be admitted because she is so worried that it is making her sick." Hanna said as she burst into tears. Mona pulled her into a tighter hug and rubbed soothing circles on her back.

"My mom moved away. She couldn't take it all when she thought I died and the trial. Apparently when she found out that I was alive she couldn't believe it. She has been staying with our family in upstate New York. The investigation has been too much for her."

"My dad was able to come home. At least I know my mom has someone to help her through this. That is the only thing giving me hope, that and getting to see you guys again. I don't know how much longer I am going to be able to handle this." Emily said as she too started to break down.

They all held onto each other a bit tighter. All of the emotions of the last six months coming out as they held each other and cried.

"Hey …. We might be trapped in this hell hole, but it's Christmas. Let's enjoy today. Who knows when we are going to get it again." Spencer said trying to lighten the mood, getting up from the couch and heading towards the food.

The girls enjoyed the day, eating and talking about memories from growing up and what they wanted to do when they got out. None of them wanted to think about not getting out and envisioning the lived they would have after this helped.

They talked about what colleges they wanted to go to and what they wanted to study. Spencer was the one to bring up that technically they didn't get to finish high school so who knows what that would mean for their college plans. All of them knew one thing for sure, they wanted to go to school as far away from Rosewood as possible, while still being near each other if they could.

What A didn't realize was that while their plan was to pull the girls away from each other, this entire experience was probably only going to bring them closer. Their friendship up until this point had been so unbreakable for a reason. Something like this, if they all survived, was only going to bring them together.

Time went fast and too quickly they heard the chime that meant they had to go back to their rooms.

As they made their way back down the hallways, the girls were silent, but again holding tightly onto each others hands, not wanting the moment to end.

"We can't go this long without seeing each other again. Every night when the generators go off we meet out here. Even if we only have three minutes, those over time might be enough for us to figure a way out of here. Agreed?" Spencer asked.

Everyone nodded their heads before making their way back to the rooms. Turning to look at one another before the doors closed again, cutting them off from each other.

* * *

 **Rosewood**

Back in Rosewood, everyone had retreated to their own houses for Christmas Day, the events of the night before reminding them that they weren't any closer to finding the girls and that this just like A said was probably one of many holidays that they were all going to be spending without their girls.

All of their days were interrupted when a text came through on everyone's phones.

It was a picture of all the girls together around the couch crying and holding onto each other. Along with the message, "Today I was nice … but will I be nice to them tomorrow … Who knows. - A"

This was the first picture since they were taken, that showed all of the girls together. That brought comfort to all of them, knowing at least that they didn't spend Christmas alone. While, of course they wanted the girls home with them, at least they knew for right now, the girls were together and getting to celebrate Christmas, but some did wonder, at what cost? What was A going to do to them next?

* * *

 **Next Chapter:**

 **\- What the families are going through as the one year anniversary arrives.**

 **\- Where did A take the girls?**

 **\- Can the girls get away?**

 **Stay Tuned!**


	5. One Year Anniversary - Part 1

This chapter is a bit longer. Took me awhile to find the right spot to cut it off. I added some people in that I think you all will enjoy. I will try to get a new chapter up soon. Hope you all enjoy it and THANK YOU all again for your support, means a lot to me! Please review :)

* * *

No one wanted to look at the calendar. No one wanted to be reminded that in two days, the girls have been gone for an entire year. No one ever imagined that the girls would be gone this long and no one thought that after this long, they would really be no closer to finding them than the day they were taken.

Work at the investigation headquarters has now become an around the clock effort since they had discovered the bunker almost a week ago. The barn taken over with photos from the dollhouse as well as hundreds upon hundreds of pieces of evidence.

The thing that was getting people was that while there were cameras all over the dollhouse, no one had been able to find any trace of footage. They had found A's lair deep in the bunker, and the one at the Campbell Apple Farm, but of course they had wiped everything. Caleb was working around the clock to trying to find any trace of the footage.

Tanner was at a loss at home this could have gotten under their nose. This whole time, the girls had just been outside of town and whoever did this, had been planning this for quite a long time before the girls were taken, just like they suspected.

While the husbands and the boyfriends and Ali were stationed at the Hastings barn, the moms were over at Ashley's house sorting out the plans for the candlelight vigil set for the night of the one year anniversary of the girls disappearance. For them, it was a way to gather everyone who had played a role in the last year in helping the search for the girls as well as renew everyone's energy to hopefully bring the girls home.

"So the vigil is set to start at 8 or once it's dark enough. We can each say something along with Toby, Caleb, Ezra, Ali and Mike. It will all depend on how we feel. Don't feel like you have to." Veronica said to the group.

"The event really is that simple. I think it will be nice to get everyone in one spot and really be able to say thank you and support each other."

"I agree. I have been amazed at how hard everyone has been going. Byron really only comes home to sleep anymore. I don't know how he does it, being in the barn and seeing all the photos from the bunker, it's just too much." Ella said as she wiped a single tear from her face.

"Same thing with Wayne."

"And Tom."

"Peter …. He just can't get past that he let something else happen to the Spencer and the girls." Veronica said with a sigh as she took another sip of her wine. "He is spending most of his time at the law firm, figuring out who he can sue. I don't think anyone is beating themselves up more than the boyfriends and Ali though."

"Yea, I hate seeing how much it get's to Ezra." Ella said. "Byron and I have really spent the last year trying to get to know him more and really, we have seen how much he loves and cares for Aria and that in turns makes him so mad at himself for letting this happen to her and to all of them. He cares for all of the girls and it kills him that this happened to them. I will say though, he has been such an amazing support system for Mike."

"How has he been doing? I can't imagine what he's going through having his sister and his girlfriend go missing, especially after what he had already gone through thinking Mona was dead."

"He has days where we can tell it is bothering him. He is getting better at coming to us. Some days it's to talk and others it's to tell us he needs to go see his therapist. He has come such a long way from where he was a few years ago."

"That's amazing. After everything i've heard about what went on with Aria and Ezra, i'm surprised you two are being so open with him." Ashley said.

"It wasn't easy but once the girls were taken, everything was put into perspective. It's like I think back to every conversation I had with Aria and how there could have been so many more if we hadn't created such a stink over her simply finding the person she was in love with and driving her away from us. I think back to all the times where I could tell that there was obviously something was going on, but she wouldn't tell us and now I can see that I am thankful that she had him to turn to."

"So the age doesn't bother you anymore? Or the fact that they were together when he was her teacher?" Pam asked.

"A part of me will never agree with how the two of them started their relationship but after a while of seeing them together, you realize that age didn't matter. He left his job in order for the two of them to be together. He loves her so much and is still showing Byron and I everyday just how serious he was when he said there wasn't anything he wouldn't do for her."

"Caleb has been working himself to the bone. It's hard for me to see him this upset. I know in the beginning I wasn't the biggest fan of him but now, I know he's it for Hanna."

"Were any of us a fan of our daughter's significant others when they started dating?" Veronica asked with a slight smile.

"Nope. Guess they really did know better than us on that front." Ella said.

"Toby had changed so much from the kid we thought killed Allison. Him and Spencer together … it was never something we saw coming."

"They are kinda perfect together." Ella added with a smile.

"Yea … they kinda are." Veronica smiled.

"I think back to when Emily came out to me and brought Maya home," Pam paused. "I wish I could have gone back and handled everything so differently. Who knows, Maya might still be alive."

"I think we all have regrets with how we handled things with the girls." Veronica said with a sigh and another big slip of her wine.

"Hopefully we get a chance to make things right." Ashley said with a dramatic pause before she continued. "Has anyone thought that there might be a chance that A might try to ruin the vigil like they did with the Ali tribute at the Fashion show?"

"The thought has crossed my mind. Tanner promised me that there is going to be loads of police presence and security. Let's hope the chance of getting caught scares A off."

"I just want one night where maybe something good happens. I need something good to happen." Ashley said as the tears started to fall. Pam, who was sitting next to her, moved over a bit and pulled her into a hug.

"We all do. Hopefully this nightmare is going to be over soon."

* * *

 **Middle of Nowhere**

A kept their eyes on the road as the five girls laid in the back, still out cold. A didn't know exactly what they were going to do with them yet, actually they had an idea but it was a little crazy. In all reality, A was starting to get bored. The game wasn't fun anymore but knew that they couldn't just give the girls back. The families would have to work for it. They would have to play A's game.

Just a bit further and then A was sure …. These girls would know what it felt like to have your life taken away and spend your days in a mental hospital where soon people would lose interest and forget that they existed.

Just like what had happened to her.

* * *

 **Montgomery House**

Ezra and Mike were working on the kitchen table together.

Mike working on homework while Ezra worked on some paperwork for The Brew. Mike would ask a question every now and then but for the most part they worked in silence. Working together in silence was better than being alone. Alone, sometimes the thoughts just became too much.

Even though the age difference with them was bigger, the two had found a common ground in their grief and want to find the girls and developed a close bond and friendship. Ella and Byron had started letting him hang out with Ezra, Caleb, and Toby when they were working at Caleb's apartment, but he wasn't allowed to go to the Hasting's barn. They wanted to keep him separate from that. He didn't need to see all the photos and evidence from the dollhouse and all the messages and photos sent to them by A, not when he was starting to get back to as normal as you could be with everything that was going on.

Mike had never really connected well with his dad, so it was nice for him to have Ezra around to talk to. Plus, he knew what he was going through in the sense that he knew what it was like to have the person that you are in love with gone without a trace and no one could seem to find her.

"Ezra?" Mike asked.

"Yea," he responded, looking up from what to him felt like an endless line of paperwork.

"Do you think we're ever going to find them?"

Ezra paused for a moment, not quite sure how to answer the question. As the anniversary of their disappearance got closer, the dark side of him was starting to creep in on hope that the girls would ever come home. A had never done anything like this before. This kind of long term wasn't their style. Ezra just hoped that A would slip up, just once and that would give them the in that they needed in order to find them.

"I promised your parents I would do everything in my power to bring Aria home. I promise you that I will do the same to bring Aria and Mona back."

"I don't doubt that. Aria once told me that when you love someone, it's worth the fight no matter what the cost. I didn't know what she meant then but I am starting to get it now. You, Caleb, Toby and everyone are fighting so hard to bring the girls home no matter what might happen to you in the process."

"They didn't deserve what happened to them. Whenever I find out who did this," He paused for a moment to calm himself and not let his anger get the better of him. "Let's just say, someone is probably going to have to hold me back."

"No me," Mike laughed with a smile on his face. "I'll be right there with you ready to throw some punches myself."

"We know you can throw a good punch when you want to."

"Yea …. I don't know if I ever said sorry for punching you in the face … so … sorry about that."

Ezra chuckled now at the memory. "Don't worry about it. I deserved it. Plus, like Aria told me, it was better it was you than your dad."

"What about me?" Byron said as he walked into the room.

"Oh … just talking about that time I punched Ezra so you wouldn't." Mike said nonchalantly.

"Yea … that probably was a good idea." He looked to Ezra, "You kinda deserved it though."

Ezra held his hands up in surrender, "I said the same thing."

Everyone in the room laughed. It was good to laugh again after what felt like so long.

"Ella is on her way back. Ezra, would you like to join us for dinner?" Byron asked.

"I'd love to."

"Good. I'll let you two get back to work. I'll let you know when dinner is ready." Bryon said before heading towards the kitchen.

* * *

 **Outside of Rosewood**

 **Day of Vigil**

The girls were still unconscious, lying in various places around the basement of a cabin in the woods.

The door to the room was shut with a loud bang before the person who closed it moved back up the stairs towards the living room where others were waiting for him.

"How strong was the gas you gave them? If I didn't know any better, I would think they were all dead." Noel said as she sat down on one of the sofas.

"They will come out of it soon. I didn't want them to wake up until I was ready for them to. I'm not ready to kill them yet."

"The plan is to kill them?" Jenna said from another sofa in the room.

"Haven't decided yet."

"Why did we really even move them from the bunker anyway? Things were going just fine down there?" Noel said.

"I was bored. All they do is cry and break things and lately they haven't been doing anything. Kinda why I am over this. Pretty sure I have screwed them up beyond repair so, if I gave them back, what life are they really going to have?"

"So what's the plan now?"

A picked up a flyer for the Vigil that was sitting on the table. "We give them one more show and then see if they can find them in time."

* * *

 **One Year Anniversary**

 **Day of Candlelight Vigil**

It was as if the entire town of Rosewood knew what today was.

The inhabitants of the town moved through the day at a sluggish pace in contrast to those who had come from around the country and the world.

The closest family and friends of the girls all gathered at the Hastings house since it was the most protected from what felt like the prying eyes on the world. They all wore simple matching t-shirts that said 'Bring Our Girls Home' with their names listed on the back. Everyone was staged at different places around the room but were all looking at the TV where coverage had been centered on the girls all day.

"The day the no one hoped would come, has arrived, the one year anniversary of the day that four Rosewood teens were abducted. Aria Montgomery, Hanna Marin, Spencer Hastings and Emily Fields have not been seen since they were being transported to the state penitentiary after being charged as accessories in the murder of Mona Vanderwall. Their friend Alison DiLaurentis was found guilty of Vanderwall's murder but the charge was overturned once it was discovered that her death was staged and she was being held hostage with the girls.

It was just under two weeks ago that police discovered a hidden bunker in Tyler State Park where they believe the girls have been held for the last year, but the girls were nowhere in sight. Police have no new leads on the girls whereabouts.

Tonight, the families of the missing girls are holding a candlelight vigil in the town square and invite everyone to attend. They hope tonight will renew the energy and bring the girls home."

The TV was muted as the anchor moved onto the next story.

The room stayed silent as everyone was absorbed into their own thoughts.

No one had really been talking today. They knew alot of their night was going to be spent talking and around other people so they had spent the day with each other, wrapping their minds around tonight and what the date meant.

* * *

 **Noel's Cabin**

Emily felt like her head was going to explode and that her eye balls were getting pulled through her nose at the same time. She tried to remember a time in her life where she had been in this much pain but that only made the pain worse so she stopped. She heard a groan beside her as Spencer started to come to.

"Spencer … are you okay?" Emily basically yelled.

"Yes … please stop screaming … I feel like I was run over by a mac truck."

"Sorry. Didn't realize I was that loud."

"Don't worry, you talking normal still sounds like screams in my head right now."

"Where are we?" Spencer and Emily turned around to see Aria coming to from where she was propped up against the wall.

"I have no idea. The last thing I remember was A finding us in the hallway and throwing some kind of air gas can at us. After that, everything is fuzzy." Mona said as she walked over to where they were and sat down.

"Remind me to never get really wasted if this is what a massive hangover feels like." Hanna said joining them.

"Why do you think A moved us from the dollhouse?" Aria asked.

"Who knows. I have long since stopped trying to figure out how the bitches brain works." Hanna said with a snap.

"All I know is it can't be for a good reason. We need to figure out where we are and how to get the heck out of here." Spencer said.

The girls all got up and frantically started looking around the room and out the small windows to see if they could see anything.

They all instantly went quiet when they heard someone coming down the stairs.

"Quick, back to where you were and act like we rehearsed."

All of the girls quickly ran back to where they woke up and acted like they were void of any emotion or will to live.

Something they had talked about in the few minutes they had each night to meet outside of their rooms was that maybe, just maybe if they stopped giving A a show and made them think that they had given up, they would let them go. Something they also realized was that if this worked it could have gone one of two ways. Either A would get bored and let them go, or they would all get killed. The chances that they were going to be able to see their families again was enough to keep them going and outweighed their fear of being killed.

Noel walked into the room and looked around. To him, they looked like they were still out cold but some of them had their eyes open. Maybe A's plan had worked and they really were crazy.

His eyes fell to Aria and Mona. He had cared about them both once. It kinda sucked that this was happening to them but in all reality, they did it to themselves when they chose to be friends with Alison.

He walked out the door, locking it again behind him, knowing that it was the last time he was ever going to have to see them and that after a year, all of this was finally over.

* * *

 **\- What's going to happen at the vigil?**

 **\- Will the families find the girls in time?**

 **\- Will the girls figure out what is going on and how to get out?**


	6. One Year Anniversary - Part 2

**First, I am so so so sorry that it has been so long since i've updated. My life has been insane plus that finale ... OMG**

 **This isn't the longest chapter but I found a good place to stop and I thought you all would appreciate something rather than nothing.**

 **Hope you guys enjoy it! I promise to have more soon.**

* * *

 **Noel's Cabin**

As soon as the girls knew that Noel was far enough away, they all got up slowly and met in the center of the room. All of them were in a state of shock that all along it could have been Noel pulling the strings.

"Noel has been behind this the whole time?" Emily said breaking the silence.

"No, I don't believe that. I know he hates us to a point but he doesn't have the smarts to be behind all of this. He has to just be one of A's minions." Spencer said as she started to look around again. She had to find something to use to get out of here.

"Wait - do you guys hear that?" Aria said after a few moments.

They all went quiet and listened as they heard incoherent talking and then doors shut and then what sounded like a large van driving away.

"He's leaving?"  
"That's not good."

"No kidding Spencer." Hanna said.

"Who was he talking to?" Emily asked.

"Like I said, I don't think he is in charge. A was probably here. I think we were moved because A is done with us." Spencer said.

"Seriously? Bitch keeps us an entire year and then just gets rid of us." Hanna snapped.

For the first time since all of them woke up, they realized what today was.

"Wow. I hadn't realized it's been a year." Aria gasped. The group all sat together against the walled, huddled together like they did on Christmas.

"It's been longer than a year for me. I can't believe when I started all this, the whole scheme of faking my death, that it would really lead to me going this long without seeing my mom. I thought it would only be a few weeks, get A off my back and then I could come back." Mona cried as tears fell down her face. Hanna pulled her into a hug.

"I can't even imagine what our families must be going through right now." Spencer said.

"I stopped reading those articles that A was leaving in our rooms. I couldn't stand to read everything my parents, Mike and Ezra are going through." Aria said looking off to the side of the room, trying to hide the tears falling down her face.

"I wonder if they know about the dollhouse yet?" Spencer added.

"Why would A reveal that? Wouldn't that give away, like, everything?" Hanna said.

"Who knows. One thing I do know is that we have to figure out a way to get the hell out of here."

They all started frantically looking, clawing at windows and the walls, trying to find any way they might be able get out. Spencer was looking around the room trying to find something to try and pick the lock. Emily stood in the middle of the room trying to figure out why that place felt so familiar but having a hard time concentrating through the pain in her head and the effects of the gas.

"Guys … I recognize this place … this is Noel's cabin."

* * *

 **Vigil**

As far as you could see in the town square of Rosewood was people, people everywhere. Everyone had come out of the woodwork to support the families of the 5 missing girls. Eyes turned as two dark SUV's pulled up and the girls families and Ali with her family piled out. The sea of people parted as they made their way to the stage set up in the middle of the square.

Ezra took in all of the people as he made his way up with the rest of the group. They were all handed candles as they walked up the stairs to the stage. Once they were all up on the platform, Veronica made her way to the mic to get things started.

"Welcome everyone. All of us up here first and foremost want to thank each and every one of you for coming out tonight and all of you who have played a role in helping in the search for the girls over the past year." She paused as the crowd cheered. "As you all can imagine, today has been a hard day for us. None of us thought we would get to this point but seeing all of the support shown tonight, I know that hopefully we will be bringing the girls home soon." Veronica paused again as the crowd applauded. "Tonight we hope will serve as a renewal in energy. Someone knows something and sooner or later we will find them and end this nightmare."

Noel and A stood on the outer edge of the crowd with smirks on their faces as they took in the scene around them.

"How long until?" Noel asked.

"10 minutes then they have one hour and then this is all over if they don't find them."

"Where are you headed?"

"Paris and this time i'm not coming back."

"I don't get how you could have gone through all of this just to give it up so easily."

"My goal was to make them shells of who they once were so they would be destined to live out a life in a mental hospital. I destroyed their lives and for me, that's enough. Now it's time to go live my life, I got everything I wanted from them."

"And from Ali?"

"She knows that all of this was because of her. She will spend the rest of her life knowing that she caused her friends to die or wish they were dead, again, that's enough for me."

"Sounds good to me. When is your flight?"

"12:30. Where are you headed?"

"Not sure. Kinda want to sit back and watch everything burn. You sure do know how to plan a show."

"You don't even know the half of it. I would stay low though. I'm not going to make it too hard for them to find the bitches so they will be looking for you."

"No worries. I will be watching from afar. I can take care of myself."

The two shared one more look and then separated heading in different directions away from the square as Ali stepped up to the mic.

"I don't really know what to say. This past year has been harder than I ever could have imagined. My friends are my rock and my biggest form of support. Without them I don't really know how to function. A part of me will always think that this was my fault no matter what ends up happening. The hardest part for me, knowing that someone out there knows something and are choosing not to come forward. Please, I'm begging you. Please bring my friends back to all of us." Ali wanted to say more but got choked up. Her dad lightly pulled her back from the mic and into a hug.

One by one each other the parents and significant others spoke briefly. As time went on it got harder and harder for each person to get out what they wanted to say. All of them were in shock at the amount of people who had come out to support them. From the stage as it got darker, all you saw was candles. The first few rows of people were illuminated by the light from the screen at the back of the stage that was showing all kinds of pictures of the girls.

Just as Caleb was finishing up talking loud screaming music filled the square as the screen behind them changed to pictures of the girls being tortured in the dollhouse. It was a repeat of the fashion show all over again. Sounds of shock and horror filled the square. Peter, Byron, Tom and Wayne instantly went to the tech booth to try and figure out what was going on and shut everything down. Caleb, Toby and Ezra stayed with the moms to make sure they stayed calm, which wasn't really happening but they were trying at least.

At last, a message showed up on the screen with a photo of all the girls passed out of the floor of the basement of the cabin.

"I've won but you haven't lost … yet. Find them …. Or least what might be left of them. Au Revoir - A"

Tanner rushed up to all of them on the stage.

"Let's get you guys over to the Brew. We'll talk there." Tanner yelled over the screams of the crowd.

Over a dozen police officers helped get the group over to the Brew and inside where you could finally hear yourself think.

"What the hell just happened out there? I thought you said there was going to be extra protection and precautions tonight so things like this didn't happen?" Peter yelled.

"There was by double. I have no idea how this happened but right now we have a bigger problem." Tanner pulled out her phone that revealed a text message with a countdown. "I'm guessing we have less than an hour to find the girls or it's game over."

"Where do we even start?" Byron asked.

Right on cue, all of the parent's phones rang with a new text message.

"Clue #1 … many parties have happened here and most of you all didn't know about. Guess you don't know your daughters as good as you thought you did. - A"

"Where could that be?" Wayne asked clueless.

"We know." Ezra, Toby and Caleb said together.

"You do?" Ella asked surprised.

"Noel Kahn's cabin, we've all gone to parties with the girls there before."

"Do we think that Noel is involved?" Ezra asked.

"Probably. We will worry about him more once we have the girls." Tanner said.

"We'll talk more about that later, let's just go get the girls." Veronica said.

Tanner immediately turned and headed out the door, talking into her walkie talkie as she went. "We need a APB out on Noel Kahn and back up sent out to his cabin."

Everyone piled back into the waiting SUV's and headed for the cabin.

* * *

 **Cabin**

Spencer was using a spare piece of wire to try and pick the lock to try and get out of the basement. While Emily and Aria tried to figure out how to get one of the small windows open.

"Him leaving could not have been a good thing. We have to get the heck out of here," Hanna yelled starting to loose it.

"No kidding Hanna. You freaking out isn't going to make anything easier." Aria said.

"I'm sorry. I tend to freak out when there is a chance that something is about to go horribly wrong

"I got it!" Spencer yelled from the door.

The girls all rushed to her side and they together made their way out the door and up the stairs. When they got to the living room, they saw something that made them all stop in their tracks.

Sitting on the coffee table was a bomb.

"What the hell?"

"Are you kidding me?"

"Is A seriously planning to have kept us this entire time just to blow us up? What was the point in all of this?" Hanna said.

"A likes to play mind games," Mona contemplated. "This was probably more about torturing us and all of the people closest to us."

"So we were right. Once we became boring to A, they wanted to get rid of us. This is our shot at getting home." Spencer said.

"That's if we get out of here in one piece. I'm guessing that they didn't just leave the doors unlocked."

"And you would be right." Mona said after she failed to open the front door and any of the windows.

"Spencer you try to detonate that thing while we try to get these windows open." Aria said.

Spencer went to work on the bomb while each of the girls went to work on a different window. The mood was tense as they all knew they were fighting against the clock to try and get out of there.

The bomb was beeping and the beeping was getting faster which was starting to frazzle Spencer.

"Guys … this is the most complicated bomb I have ever seen," Spencer yelled.

"How many bombs have you seen in your life?" Mona asked.

"More than you would think."

'Why does that not surprise me?" Aria joked.

"Well can you work faster? I want to get the hell out of here." Hanna said.

"I'm working as fast as I can." Spencer snapped. "How is that window coming?"

"I am about to smash my own head through it. I am so over this," Emily said.

Spencer hit something and all of a sudden the beeping was getting faster than ever before.

"Okay, this thing is about to blow. Let's get the hell out of here."

The girls all made a run for the big window in the back of the house. Spencer took one of the dining room chairs and smashed it through the window. Just as the girls were all running out and had just made it to the edge of the forest, they heard the explosion. The force from the blast sent them all in different directions. A few hit the ground while some hit tress and they all faintly heard sirens as their worlds faded into darkness.

* * *

 **Outside the Cabin**

The SUV's with all the families was driving up to the cabin when the bomb went off. Both cars slammed on their brakes in order to avoid pieces of flying debris. Everyone in both cars were in shock, wondering if after all of this, were they too late.

* * *

 **So will the girls be okay? We shall see! Please drop a review! Thanks so much!**


	7. The Healing Begins

First of all I have to say that I was BLOWN AWAY by everyone's response to the last chapter. I was seriously so excited! Here is another chapter. I can't promise they are going to come as quickly. I am the kind of writer that writes when inspiration hits. Also, I love when you guys give suggestions in your reviews, please keep them coming. It really helps stop the writers block.

Enjoy this chapter and please review!

* * *

Once debris stopped flying through the air, everyone piled out of the cars. All of the family members were inconsolable. They all really thought this was the end, that after all this time and searching this was how their daughters, girlfriends and friends lives were going to end and just like A had told them, they were going to have to spend the rest of their lives knowing they played a small hand in their fate by not finding them in time.

Tanner and all the police backup and firefighters immediately went into action, Tanner stayed back to talk to the families while everyone else went go start looking through the scene.

"We need all of you to stay back here and let us do our jobs. I promise I will let you know the second we find anything. Now this might take a while."

"We're staying, no matter how long it takes." Veronica stated. Everyone behind her nodded their head in agreement.

"I expected nothing less." Tanner said and then headed over to the house.

Tanner took one look at the house and it made it really hard to have any hope that anyone could have made it out of there alive. She prayed that the girls were somehow able to get out of there before the explosion happened.

It was over an hour later that police were able to get to the back of the house. Tanner was looking over the tree line when she heard a groan. She didn't want to get her hopes up but was shocked when sure enough laying among the trees were all five girls.

"Holy crap … I need medics back here now."

Back at the front of the house, the family members heard the call for medics over one of the radios and that caused everyone to have a fresh set of tears in their eyes. They knew they had found someone, but in what state they were in or how many of them they had found, that they didn't know and that scared them all more than anything.

Tanner walked over to each girl and took a huge sigh of relief when she discovered they were all alive. They didn't look too much better beyond that. Aria had a huge gash on her side that looked to be bleeding pretty badly and Spencer had a deep cut on her head; the rest of the girls had various cuts and bruises and were covered in dirt and all seemed to be knocked out from the force from the blast. Tanner knew that whenever they did find them that they might not look the greatest after everything they went through, but even she was surprised at how different these girls looked from the last time she saw them over a year ago.

She made sure all the girls were being cared to before she headed back to the front of the house to talk to all the families. As soon as she was in their line of sight, what seemed like hundreds of questions were directed at her.

"Okay okay okay, slow down. First, we did find all five girls and they are alive." The sigh of relief in the group of worried people was instant. "Beyond that, we don't know much. I promise you all a long time ago that I wasn't going to lie to you. They don't look good at all. They all seem to be knocked out cold from when they were probably thrown from the house from the blast. That and whatever injuries they have from the past year equals to them all being in pretty rough shape. They are getting taken care of in the back and put on gurneys and will be brought out here. One person will be allowed to be in the ambulance with them, the rest of you will have to meet them at the hospital." She paused for a moment to let the news sink and also give them a moment before she dropped the next bit of news. "Now … I want to prepare you. I know over the past year we have seen pictures of the girls but they are going to look different than you imagined, especially after this blast. They should start coming out soon." Tanner nodded at them before heading back over to the scene.

The mood among all of them was somber, each person trying to prepare themselves for seeing their loved one.

"This doesn't seem real." Ella said.

"After all this time we get them back." Ashley said from where she was curled up into Ted's side with his arm protectively around her shoulders.

"This is going to be a long road and we are all going to need each other to help get them through this. I know for me personally, I couldn't have gotten through this year without each one of you." Veronica said, trying to hold back more tears. She had stayed pretty strong throughout this process and now that they knew where the girls were and were going to have them back, she wasn't able to hold anything back anymore.

"Anything we can do to get our daughters through this, I'd go to the ends of the earth to make them feel safe again." Wayne said.

"Hanna is coming out!" Tanner yelled from the side of the house.

Tom, Ashley and Caleb rushed forward as Hanna was wheeled out. The medics had her already intubated and she was covered in dirt, but you could tell just how much weight she had lost along with various cuts and bruises. Ashley was immediately at her side with tears running down her face. She placed a quick kiss to her forehead before she was loaded into the waiting ambulance.

"Who is riding to the hospital with her?" The paramedic asked.

Tom and Ashley shared a quick look, silently communicating who they wanted to go with her. "Why don't you go Caleb? We will be right behind you." Ashley told him.

"Are you sure?" Caleb asked in a state of shock.

"Positive. You've done so much in the past year; I know she is in good hands with you." Caleb gave her a hug before climbing into the ambulance with Hanna.

"There is a car waiting to take you guys to the hospital if you guys are ready?" One officer said to Ashley, Tom and Ted.

"Thank you. We'll just be a minute." Ashley said and the officer gave her a nod before walking away.

"I'm sure we will see you all at the hospital but let us know if you all need anything before you get there." Ted said.

"We'll see you all hopefully soon." Ashley said before going and giving a hug to everyone before her, Ted and Tom piled into the waiting car before driving away.

It was a few minutes before the next girl was brought out.

Mona's mom completely broke down when she saw her daughter. She had an oxygen mask on while still wearing Allison's now infamous yellow tank top that looked almost black with all the dirt and shoot from the explosion. She hadn't seen a lot of the photos, so seeing her daughter with blonde hair was also a shock. Her uncle had to help hold her up as Mona was loaded into the next ambulance, she went in right behind her and they were off.

Aria came out next.

Byron was surprised at the amount of emotion that came out of once he saw Aria. It was something he had been dreaming about since the moment the girls went missing and a moment he thought might never happen. The tears run down his face and he clings to Ella at his side. He knew he must be super emotional if he didn't object when Ezra rushed to Aria's side.

It took them back even more when Aria came out and she was the worst off so far. She too was intubated and covered in dirt and more cuts and bruises then anyone thought could possibly be on one human being. The scariest thing for them was the amount of blood they saw coming from a deep gash on her side.

"She needs surgery so we need to get her loaded up quickly." The paramedic said as they rushed past them to the rig.

Byron looked down at Ella, "You go with her, Ezra and I will be right behind you guys."

"Okay." She gave him a quick kiss and a fast hug to Ezra before following her daughter.

Ezra and Byron just stood there for a moment looking as the ambulance drove away. Neither of them thought this was the way the moment was going to go when they got to see Aria. Tanner wasn't kidding when she said the girls were worse off than any of them could have imagined.

Spencer was brought out next with an oxygen mask over her face. She didn't look too bad besides a gash on her forehead and the matching dirt from head to toe and various bumps and scratches of the other girls. Veronica went into the ambulance with her while Peter rode to the hospital with Ezra and Byron.

Emily was the last one to be brought out. Wayne was the first one to get to her. He hadn't seen her in so long, as he was gone for a good six months before they all went missing. He took her in and as with everyone else, the tears were almost instant. It was just so good to see her in person again. She was the only one who came out without anything helping her breath so he took that as a good sign.

"You go with her, I can ride back with Alison." Pam said.

"Are you sure?" Wayne said.

"Of course I am. Go take care of our girl." Pam said. Wayne gave her a quick kiss before following Emily into the rig. Allison and Pam held onto each other as they watched the ambulance drive away.

Tanner came up behind them. "I am going to be here probably for a few more hours but will be at the hospital as soon as I can. Please let me know if there is anything I can do or if there are any changes with any of the girls."

"Of course and Tanner, thank you so much. None of this would have been possible without all the work you've put in the last year. All of us have no idea how to thank you." Pam said through tears.

"No need to thank me. Just doing my job, though I will say this has been a labor of love for quite some time now." She gave them both a hug before heading back towards the scene.

Pam, Alison, and Ken all loaded up into the last waiting car before heading towards the hospital to check on all of their girls.

* * *

 **Hospital**

The scene at the hospital was insane.

News had spread quickly that the girls had been found and as soon as Hanna was spotted being brought into the hospital, they were overrun with media and spectators trying to get any piece of information that they could. Each of the girls after her were taken in a back entrance in order to protect them and the families from anything getting out of hand.

The hospital was also overrun with police and extra means of security were put into place. A was still out there and while everyone's number one priority was making sure the girls were okay, they knew they had to track A down. To do that, they would need the girls help and the needed to be in a better state in order for that to happen.

Everyone was corralled in a private waiting room on the ICU floor, besides Wayne and Pam who were with Emily who was already situated in a room.

Aria and Hanna were in surgery while Mona and Spencer were having various scans and tests done. None of the girls had regained consciousness yet, none of them had any serious head trauma, a few had concussions but none too bad so the doctors were confident that they would all wake up in due time.

* * *

 **Emily's Room**

Pam and Wayne were told that Emily was settled in a room and that they could go and see her. Shortly after Emily and Wayne had gotten to the hospital Emily had been taken away for tests and he was ushered into the waiting room and hasn't seen her since.

They slowly walked into Emily's room and stood just inside the door for a moment to take in everything.

They both could see just how much weight she had lost and how tired and exhausted she looked but took comfort in the fact that while she was beat up quite a bit, she looked at peace. This medically induced sleep was probably some of the first sound sleep she had gotten in quite some time. As their eyes worked their way down Emily they took in the cuts, her wrapped left arm and right knee. She had a canula tucked under her nose the wrapped around her ears and met under chin helping her breathe a bit. They were both pulled out of their thoughts when a doctor walked into the room.

"You must be Mr. and Mrs. Fields. I'm Dr. Paul, I was the primary physician looking over Emily."

"I'm Wayne and this is my wife Pam," Wayne said shaking his hand. "Thank you for everything I'm sure you did."

"Of course."

"How is she doing?"

"Compared to the others, she is actually not too bad. I'm sure you both were prepared a bit about what condition the girls would come in. They all have severe malnutrition and dehydration. That is going to take some time to reverse. Emily didn't have too many injuries from the blast besides some cuts and bruises. She does have a small fracture in her arm and a severe sprain in her knee. All of her x-rays came back clean so it doesn't look like she had any injuries over the past year that didn't heal correctly or anything like that. Her CT scan came back clean so we are pretty confident that she will wake up soon. Now of course after being held captive for that amount of time, we're not sure what her mental state will be when she wakes up so I would just be cautious. Once she wakes up we will have a counselor come in and give us a better idea what steps to take after that. "

"Of course, thank you again for everything." Pam said.

"No problem. Please let me know if you both need anything and be sure to have the nurses page me when she wakes up." He shook both of their hands before leaving the room.

Wayne pulled Pam into his arms and held onto her tight, and placed a kiss to the top of her head.

"She's okay. She's here and she's alive. It's all we could have asked for." Pam said.

"One day at a time." Wayne sighed. The pair made their way over to either side of the bed and each took one of Emily's hands in their own.

* * *

 **Waiting Room**

All of the other families were waiting for news on any of the girls. The group in the waiting room had grown to include Ella, Byron, Mike, Ezra, his brother Wes, Ashley, Tom, Ted, Caleb, Veronica, Peter, Toby, Wren, Melissa, Ali, Jason, Ken, Mona's mom and Uncle.

No one really knew what to say. Most of them were still in shock that after all of this time, they had found the girls but also now this was going to be an all new battle to get them back to where they were, if that really even was a possibility after everything they've been through.

Now it was just a waiting game to see how the rest of the girls were doing.

* * *

Hope you all liked it! Please leave your suggestions on where I should go with this or what you all would like to see in a review! I promise to do what I can and I promise to get a chapter to you ... soon.

Thanks!


	8. Are they or aren't they okay?

Hey everyone! Once again thank you so much for all the reviews for the last chapter! Keep it up! So this chapter is very detail heavy and you get alot of answers while still leaving you with a lot of questions. If anyone needs me to clarify anything, either leave it in a review so feel free to message me.

Enjoy!

* * *

It was quite a while before they got any news on the girls.

With each passing moment, the mood in the room becoming more and more tense. No one was talking as everyone was in their own heads, expecting and hoping for the best but knowing that the worst could very easily become their new reality.

The families were brought out of their thoughts and surprised when a team of doctors came in and addressed them as a group.

"Hello everyone. I'm Dr. Zeboski, I am leading the team of doctors and nurses that will be working on the girls during their time here. We thought it would be easier to come and address you all as a group and we figured you all wouldn't be against that, hearing how all of the girls are doing." He looked around the room to make sure he was correct and that no one would object to that. When no one had a problem with it, he continued. "All of the girls are severely malnourished and dehydrated with various severities of cuts, and bruises. They have been all cleaned off for the most part as well. Most of the scans for most of the girls came back clean. A few of them have a sprain or small break here and there and all of them have some kind of concussion from the fall they took after the blast. Aria and Hanna are still in surgery but Spencer and Mona should be moved into rooms soon, they are just having a few more tests done. All of them are hooked up to some kind of oxygen. Most of their oxygen levels were low given how long they were exposed to the smoke from the explosion. Most of them shouldn't have to stay on it for more than a day or two. The plan for all of them right now is to keep them sedated for a little while longer just to give their bodies a rest and give them a chance to heal a bit that way."

"Now our biggest concern of all is of course their mental state once they wake up." Another doctor added. "I'm Dr. Michelle, one of the counselors here. I will be working with Dr. Sullivan and the girls once we get to that point. I am a trauma counselor so i've had some experience dealing with people who have gone through things like the girls have been through. With how long the girls have been kept captive and from what i've been told about the situation, this is going to be a long road and we will help you all in any possible was that we can."

"How is Emily doing?" Ali asked from the back of the crowd.

"She's good. Just a small fracture in her wrist and sprained knee and a minor concussion. You should be able to go visit her soon if you'd like." Dr. Paul said from the group of doctors.

"Thank you." Ali said before retreating back into protection of Jason's arm.

"Someone will be in to grab you guys once each of the girls are brought to their rooms. In order to protect them and you all, the girls will be kept in this private wing of the ICU. This is just another way to give you all another level of security and from what i've been told, you all and the girls wouldn't object to being close to each other."

"Our reputations precede us." Veronica said with a slight smile.

"You knew the girls would have demanded it when they wake up so this just saves us time." Ella said to Veronica with a smile before turning back to the doctors. "Thank you. We appreciate the lengths everyone is going to keep the girls safe."

"Of course let any one of us know if you need anything." Dr. Zeboski said.

"Of course. Thank you." Ella said.

"No worries. All of us have been following the story for awhile now and can't believe everything these girls have been through. Anything we can do to get them through this, we are more than happy to help." Dr. Zeboski said before walking out of the room with the rest of the his team following him.

A nurse came into the room and called for Spencer's family about an hour later and took them down the hall to her room.

When they entered, Spencer was still asleep. She had a bandage wrapped around her head and an oxygen mask over her mouth. Besides that, she had matching cuts and bruises and an overall look of exhaustion.

Wren and Melissa stood back by the door while Veronica, Peter and Toby advanced more into the room standing closer to her bed. The room was silent until the doctor walked in.

"Hello everyone, I'm Dr. James." He said walking up to Veronica and Peter shaking each other their hands.

"Hi. I'm Peter, this is my wife Veronica, Spencer's boyfriend Toby, her sister Melissa and Melissa's boyfriend Wren Kingston."

"Dr. James and I go way back." Wren said walking up and shaking his hand and giving him a pat on the back. "Him and I worked together while I was doing my rotation here. How are you doing?"

"Not too bad. I would ask how you were doing but I think I have a pretty good idea."

"Yea. How is she doing?"

"Compared to the others, she really isn't too bad. The cut on her head was more superficial than anything, she just needed to be cleaned out and then stitched up. She is lightly sedated but we did see the note in her chart about her past issue with opioids so we limited the amount of medications we've given her. That being said, when she does wake up, there is a very good chance she isn't going to be happy and she will be in pain, unless you think she would do okay with some stronger pain meds?"

Peter and Veronica shared a quick look, trying to decide what was best in this impossible situation.

"We don't want her to be in pain. She is going to be here for awhile where you guys can carefully monitor what she's taking so do whatever you have to to make sure she's comfortable." Veronica said.

"We don't want this to be more traumatic for her than the last year already has been." Peter added.

"Sounds good." Dr. James looked up to the nurse working at the computer beside Spencer's bed. "Please add one CC of morphine per hour to her treatment plan."

"Yes doctor."

"That is going to keep her asleep for a little while longer. I would say keep things as calm as you can around her. I would advise only one person, two max, in here at a time just to ensure that when she does wake up, she isn't overwhelmed." He said before his phone beeped. "I'm getting paged … let me know if there is anything I can do. I'll check in with you all later."

Everyone said their thanks and he walked out the door.

"We're going to head back to the waiting room, give you guys some time with her." Melissa said walking up to the bed and taking Spencer's hand for a moment. She looked over her sister and seeing her like that brought a new sense of anger over her. She can't imagine what Spencer and the other girls could have done that was so bad that they deserved to be tortured and taken from their families for an entire year. While it wasn't a secret that her and Spencer didn't always get along, she never would have wished this would have happened to her. She gave her hand one final squeeze before walking over to her parents, gave them both a hug before walking out the door with Wren.

When they made it back to the waiting room, everyone jumped up, wanting an update on Spencer.

"How is she doing?"

"Okay. The cut on her head is good and they decided to give her more pain meds despite her past issues so she's comfortable and that's what's most important." Melissa said before the tears started to fall and she curled up into Wren's side on one of the couches in the room.

"Has anyone heard from Tanner? Did they find anything in the house?" Wren asked.

"We haven't heard anything yet. I'm guessing it's going to be awhile before they find anything. That place looked like it was a mess." Tom said.

"How did the girls make it out of that?" Byron asked.

"My guess is they got out probably right before the blast. There really is no other way they could have gotten out alive." Caleb said quickly.

"Are we sure this Noel Kahn guy has something to do with it?" Ted asked.

"I mean he has to doesn't he? The girls were kept at his cabin." Ashley didn't want to believe that someone she always thought liked the girls had something to do with the nightmare they have all been going through.

"What if that is what A wants us to think in order to keep the heat off of them?" Caleb said.

"That sounds like something A would do." Ezra added.

"Who knows. Right now, I can't think of anything until we know the girls are all at least going to get through tonight." Byron said.

"Have you guys gotten an update on Aria, Hanna or Mona?" Melissa asked.

"Hanna is still in surgery." Tom said from his spot standing by the window nursing a cup of coffee while looking out over the town.

"Aria had some complications and they are having a hard time controlling the bleeding from her side. Apparently when she fell she landed right on a tree branch so they are having a hard time cleaning everything out." Byron was getting more emotional as the night went on and the longer that he didn't know if Aria was going to be okay.

Just as Mona's mom was about to say something, a nurse came in and said Mona was in her room. Her and Mona's uncle quickly made their way out of the room just as Peter and Veronica came in.

"How is Spencer?" Everyone asked in various ways.

"Stable and asleep, so for right now good. We wanted to give Toby some time with Spencer."

"Hanna's family?" A nurse said from the door.

Ashley, Tom, Ted and Caleb instantly shot up and made their way over to the door. "Is she okay?" Ashley immediately asked.

"She is. She is back in her room. The doctor will meet you there to give you the specifics of her condition."

Ashley quickly gave everyone in the room a hug as Ted and Tom followed behind her shaking hands. Caleb was ready and waiting at the door, chomping at the bit to see Hanna.

The nurse led the group down the hall and on the way they were able to sneak a peek into Spencer, Mona, and Emily's room. All of them looked okay for now and that gave them all a small sense of peace before walking into Hanna's room.

Caleb was at her side in an instant, planting a kiss on her forehead since her mouth was covered with an oxygen mask, and then taking her hand. Ashley was at her other side while the guys took residence at the end of the bed. Caleb and Ashley were in tears, but this time of happiness. For now, Hanna was okay and alive, what else could they ask for right now given that less than 6 hours ago, they had no idea where any of the girls were or if they were even alive.

"Hello everyone." The group turned to see one of the doctors from earlier walk into the room. "I'm Dr. Cory." She came over and shook everyone's hands. Ted went to go stand with Ashley while Tom went and stood next to Caleb as Dr. Cory stood at the end of the bed.

"How is she doing?"

"Okay. Shortly after she came in she gave us a scare when her blood pressure bottomed out, that told us she had some internal bleeding. We took her right up to surgery where, like we suspected, her spleen was was the thing causing the issue. We took it out and she should recover from that just fine. Her other injuries are pretty much the same as the others. Dehydrated and malnourished with various cuts from the blast. All of her scans came back clean, her CT scan showed a medium concussion, we will be keeping a close eye on that the next few than that, she is pretty lucky. We are going to keep her asleep for a bit longer and then we will see what he mental state is when she comes to."

"She can live without a spleen?" Ashley asked.

"She can. The only real lasting effect is that she will be more susceptible to infections but some people don't even have that problem. It's something she can easily live with."

"Thank you for all you did." Caleb said giving a reassuring nod in his direction.

"Of course. Now we are going to want to keep a max of one or two visitors in here at a time. Just trying to make things as easy on her as we can when she comes to."

"Of course." Tom said.

"Please let me know if there is anything I can do before she wakes up. I will check in on you guys later." Dr. Cory said before making her way out of the room.

"I'll head back to the waiting room to give you all some time." Caleb said before giving Hanna one more kiss on the forehead before starting to walk towards the door before Ashley stopped him.

"Caleb …. In all the craziness tonight since the vigil, I never really got to thank you. I know without you, this last year would have been unbearable. You have done so much in helping in looking for them, I don't know how I will ever be able to thank you."

"I would do anything for Hanna." Caleb said quietly and quickly trying to hold the tears back.

"I know that. I couldn't pick a better person to love my daughter." Ashley wanted to continue but could no longer hold back the tears. She pulled him into a tight tight hug as both of them cried. After a few moments they pulled apart and tried to put themselves back together.

"I will do everything I can to make sure Hanna and the rest of the girls get their lives back." He said with a smile and a nod to the rest of the guys in the room before walking back out the door and back to the waiting room.

* * *

 **Waiting Room**

The only people left in the waiting room were Byron, Ella, Mike, Ezra, Peter and Veronica. Wren and Melissa headed to their hotel close by to get a few hours of sleep and a shower. Plus, they didn't want to overwhelm Spencer and the others. The less extra people around, the better. Wayne and Pam were also in the waiting room while Ali was visiting Emily. She was planning to go check on each of the other girls, before her dad took her home to get some sleep. Jason had already headed home to help the police get rid of the media that was camped outside of everyone's house. Wes had headed back to get a few hours of sleep and to grab a change of clothes for Ezra since there was no way he was leaving the hospital.

"Every minute that I don't hear about Aria, I think I lose a year of my life." Ella said as she paced up and down the room.

Things in the room were very tense. Aria was the only one they hadn't heard about and with every passing moment, their fears became worse and worse.

"She is going to be fine. I'm sure that no news is good news and they are just making sure they get everything and they do it right." Ezra wasn't sure if he believed what he was saying but he had to at least try to defuse the tension in the room.

Mike was beside him his head in his hands, having a really hard time trying to handle all the stress. He of course was terrified about what might be going on with his sister but he also hadn't gone to see if Mona was okay because he didn't want to miss any news on Aria.

"How are you doing Mike?" Ezra asked while Byron and Ella's attention was on each other.

"I have no idea." Ezra was taken back when Mike looked up at him. He had tears running down with face with a look that told him that he felt like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. "It feels like all the stress is being piled on right now and i'm not really sure how to handle it."

"The girls are alive, Aria is going to be okay, Mona is okay and we all are going to help get them and everyone through this. The hard part was getting them back and we did that, just like I said we would. Now, it's going to be a long road but we'll get through it. All of us together, supporting each other and the includes us supporting you."

Mike just looked at him for a few moments. "Thanks Ezra. This last year has been the hardest year of my life but I know for a fact I would not have made it through without you. I can't imagine anyone better for my sister than you."

"Thanks. That means a lot. I just hope I get the chance to make things right with her."

"I am right there with you. It's been like 15 months since I have seen Mona and the last time we saw each other, we were fighting. I really hope I get the chance to make that right."

"I'm sure you will."

Ezra wanted to say more but a nurse came into the room and for a moment, everyone's heart stopped.

"Aria's family?"


	9. Aria

**Here is a new chapter and I wanted to explain how the next few chapters are going to work. I wanted to take the time and get into how each girl is handling this and in turn get more into how each member of each family is handling everything. So that will be chapters 9-14 since I think I will be adding a chapter about Alison at the end.**

 **Let me know if you guys like this idea.**

 **Also, I noticed that I got WAY less reviews on my last chapter. Please let me know guys if you arn't liking the way this is headed. You all have been so supportive with the story so far so I was surprised with such a low number of reviews.**

 **Drop a comment in a review about what you would like to see happen and I will respond to as many as I can!**

 **Thanks and Enjoy!**

* * *

 **ARIA**

Byron, Ella, Ezra and Mike were up and at the door in an instant.

"Is she okay?" Ella asked.

"The doctor will meet you in her room and explain everything."

The fear that came over their faces as well as everyone's faces in the room was instant. All of the nurses up until that point that at least told them that, so the fact that even that piece of information was being kept from them didn't do anything to ease their fears.

They didn't look back as they were led out of the room and to the last room at the end of the hallway. They stopped outside of the room and looked in from the window.

None of them were prepared for what they saw.

Aria was hooked up to so many tubes and vents and monitors and IV's, it was almost hard to look at. They didn't want to believe that she was so hard off that she would require this much to keep her alive. She was still intubated and it looked like she had a large chest tube coming out of her side as well.

Ella couldn't wait any longer and ran into the room, straight to her daughter's side. The men followed behind her, going to various positions around the bed, not to disturb any of the wires or tubes. It wasn't long before they were joined in the room by multiple doctors.

"Hello again." Dr. Zeboski said as he made his way into the room. He greeted Byron and Ezra with a handshake and received a nod from Mike and Ella. "I'm here along with Dr. Novalynn, Aria's primary surgeon because as you can see Aria is in the roughest shape of any of the girls and we wanted to make sure you all understood everything."

"We appreciated that." Ella said, sending them a quick smile before turning her attention back to her daughter.

"Now this is going to be a lot of information so please stop me if you need to." When the all gave him a quick nod, he continued. "When Aria came in, the first thing we did was take her straight up to get various scans to get a better look at what we were dealing with. Those as well as a CT showed she has a few cracked ribs and a severe concussion. As far as the concussion goes, she doesn't have any bleeding on the brain, we will be taking her for repeat scans just to make sure it stays that way but other than that, the concussion will go away over time but she will be uncomfortable for awhile. The cracked ribs, there isn't a lot we can do but watch them carefully to make sure they heal correctly. She will be on painkillers for a while for her other injuries so those will help keep her comfortable while her ribs heal as well. After that, the most pressing thing was getting her into surgery."

"The reason the surgery took so long was for a couple of reasons." Dr Novalynn said. "Cleaning out the wound on her side was much more difficult than we originally thought it was going to be. Since she was the the ground for a good amount of time, it gave way for more debris and bacteria to work it's way in. We took extra time to make sure we got all debris out and flushed the area with antibiotics. Her lung on the same side also collapsed while she was in surgery so that's why she has the large tube coming out of her side to keep it inflated, that will have to stay in a few days."

"Is that why is she still intubated?" Byron asked.

"That is more of a precaution, we just want to give her lung as much help as we can to aid the healing process and to help bring up her oxygen levels. We also have her quite a bit more heavily sedated than the rest of the girls simply because her body went through more trauma and we just want to give her as much time as we can to recover."

"And she is going to be able to fully recover from all of this?" Ella said.

"It's going to be a long, painful process but yes, we do believe she is going to make a full recovery."

"Now all of that was from the blast, are there any injuries from the past year that we should be worried about?" Ezra didn't want to think about Aria being hurt over the past year but unfortunately, that was another part of this nightmare they were going to have to come to terms with.

"Luckily besides the malnutrition and dehydration, she seems to be okay. No old breaks or signs of other trauma."

Everyone in the room let out a breath that they didn't realize they were holding. At least that was one less thing they had to worry about.

"Where do we go from here?" Byron asked.

"Right now we want to keep her sedated for about another 24 hours. After that we will slowly bring her out and start the psych evaluation just like with the other girls. That will last 3 days and by then we should be able to re-evaluate removing the chest tube. Until then, it's just waiting and giving her time to heal." Dr. Novalynn said.

"Thank you both." Byron said to the doctors before they made their way out of the room.

The room was silent after the doctors left as each person was deep in their own thoughts trying to process all the information they had just received.

Ezra has spent a year waiting for this moment, when he could see Aria again, hold her hand and pretend that the last year never happened. He wished they could go back to a more simpler time and yet he had two conflicting, complicated desires. One, he wanted to sit by Aria's bed and never leave her side, and two, he wanted to run out of the room and track down whoever did this to her and make them pay to the fullest extent. He knows that most of the injuries she has were from the blast, and not sustained during her time in the dollhouse, but if she hadn't been in the dollhouse she wouldn't have been near the blast. It all totalled up to him wanting nothing more than making sure the person who did this to her and her friends was held responsible.

He took a seat right next to her bed and grabbed her hand, deciding this was probably the best place for him to be right now. There would be plenty of time later and hundreds of other volunteers to head the investigation in looking for A, but right now all he wanted to worry about was making sure Aria was going to be okay, that had to be his top priority.

Really, he didn't even know where their relationship stood. Before she was taken, they had decided to spend time apart, get ready for the time when she would go off to college and he would stay in Rosewood. Now, her life was so much up in the air. He didn't know how she would feel once she woke up and that scared him the most now that he knew she was okay.

What if she woke up and she wanted nothing to do with him? He knew that a part of him would be devastated, but he would be okay eventually as long as she was happy and healthy. Another part of him will never forgive himself for the part he felt like he played in all of this. It it wasn't for his stupid book and need to get the story. Maybe the two of them would have met in another way. He had to believe that they were soulmates and somehow they would have found each other.

Byron took in the whole scene, Aria was hurt more than he could have imagined but at this moment, she was okay. She made it through the hard part and now all that was important was helping her heal. Him and Ella through this whole ordeal had only been brought closer together, the things that tore them apart before, no longer important. His eyes fell on Mike. Through all of this, he had his good days and his bad days, but at least he and Ella knew that on the bad days he would come to them and tell them how he was feeling. The last few hours he could tell that things were really getting to him, but Ezra had been seeing that he was okay and was talking him through everything he was feeling. He also couldn't deny that a big part of reason how Mike had gotten through the past year was the friendship he had developed with Ezra.

Ezra.

Byron for awhile went back and forth about how he felt about their relationship. It was never a secret that he wasn't supportive at all about their romance but that changed once Aria was taken. His view on everything changed. He will never be okay with how their relationship started or how long they kept it a secret from them but now he could see that they were there for each other through some really hard times and he was thankful that Ezra was there for her in the early days of the entire A fiasco. Over the year, as he watched Ezra tirelessly work day and night to try and bring her home. They he has supported all of them, especially Mike, and it made Byron look at him in a new way. Byron knew that Aria was going to really need all the support she could get over the next few months, next few years probably, and Byron was at peace with Ezra being one of those people, if not the main person to help her through this.

There were so many thoughts and emotions going through Mike's head.

He was over the moon that Aria was going to be okay while terrified about everything she had gone through that had left her in this state. He was trying to be present in this moment and be thankful that his sister was alive, but a part of his brain was buzzing about how Mona was doing. He didn't even know if she knew he had been looking for her or even cared if she was okay. They both cared so much for the other but were too scared to show it. He hoped this situation would wake the both up to what was really important in life and he hoped that he would get the chance to show her just how happy he was that she was safe.

Mike took the other spot at the side of Aria's bed, opposite Ezra, while his dad took residence behind him, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Byron had gotten better over the year of being able to gage what kind of physical contact was best for Mike when he at times got too into his own head. Mike looked up at him and offered a small smile, confirming this was the perfect amount of contact. They held contact for the briefest of moments before both turning their eyes back on Aria.

As Ella watched her husband watch Aria and Ezra, she couldn't help but be proud of how far he had come from the man that almost punched Ezra in their living room. So much has happened in their lives since then. Ella wasn't sure what their life was going to entail for the foreseeable future but at least she knew they were going to get through all of it together. She took in the sight of both of her kids, something from this day forward she wasn't ever going to take for granted again as it was a sight she for a while wasn't sure she was ever going to get to see again.

She looked at her son, who despite everything he has been through in the past few years, was on the road to getting better and now not only had his sister to now walk with him, but also had a friend in Ezra. She looked to Ezra and the look of love he had in his eyes when he looked at her daughter. Ella knew there wasn't anyone on this earth more perfect for Aria than him. She, like Byron, would never completly agree with how the two had started their relationship, but knew it came from a place of fear, a place she knew her and her husband were partially responsible for. She only hoped the two would be able to patch up whatever had torn them apart before she was taken.

Ella was brought out of her thoughts by a light knocking on the window. She turned to see Veronica waiting on the other side. Ella said a quick word to Byron before walking out of the room to greet Veronica with a hug.

"Oh my goodness. How is she doing?" Veronica asked in a slight bit of shock.

"Stable. She got roughed up a bit in the blast. She landed on a tree branch and because it took them some time to get back to her she had a lot of debris in the wound. That made the surgery last longer and while they were in there her lung collapsed which is why she had the tube in her side." Ella while saying that was trying to hold back the tears, but now being out of sight of Byron, Mike and Ezra, broke down. Veronica pulled her into a hug, trying to calm her down.

"She's okay. Like you said, she's stable and she is a fighter, she isn't going to give up easy."

Ella pulled back and wiped the tears from her face. "I know I know, it's just hard seeing her like that. The whole last year I hoped that if she came home, she would be fine. I always knew that it was a possibility that there would be some injuries but I never expected this."

"I know. I think we all had the same hope."

"I'm sorry I didn't ask before, how is Spencer doing?"

"She's okay. She had a cut on her head but it wasn't too bad. Peter and I had to make a decision on how to treat her given her past issues."

"I didn't think about that. What did you guys do?"

"We don't want her to be in any pain, she has been through enough. We ok'd them giving her more meds. She is going to be here for a few days so they will be able to monitor her. Once she's released we haven't decided if we will bring her home, or send her to a rehab facility just to make the transition easier."

"Byron and I haven't gotten the chance to talk about what's going to happen once Aria gets released. I think it will have a lot to do with how she is when she wakes up."

"Yea. How is Ezra handling everything?"

Ella looked into the room and saw Byron and Ezra talking while Ezra kept a tight hold on Aria's hand. "He, I think, is beating himself up quite a bit. He feels like he let her down."

"Over time I think he will realize that none of this was his fault."

"I hope so."

"I should get back to Spencer. I just wanted to check on the all the other girls."

"How is everyone?"

"As good as can be expected. It's going to be a long road for all of us."

"Yes it is. Okay, i'll let you get back to Spencer." Ella said. The two shared a hug before Ella made her way back into Aria's room and Veronica made her way back down the hall to Spencer's room.

* * *

 **There it is guys! Aria is in a bit of a rough state. Will she have anymore complications? and how are the other girls doing?**

 **Up next is Spencer! More reviews, the faster I will update!**

 **THANKS!**


	10. Spencer

**So it's been a long time, I know. I am so sorry. The only excuse I really have is that life has gotten in the way. I have been working like crazy and I can't deny I have been binge watching NCIS.**

 **I am going to be getting back into this but probably won't be able to update as often as I used to.**

 **I also wanted to thank all of you for your reviews. I took a few things that you all said into consideration and I wanted to address one thing. A few people have said that I have made Aria more severely hurt than then others. What I wanted to say about that is one, Aria has always been my favorite so it's always been easier for me to write for her and I am always more keen to give her more interesting storylines. I have a plan for how I would want the story to go. All I want to say is that while Aria is the most physically hurt, doesn't mean all of the other girls are still okay. There are many different issues that they all are going to face after being held captive for a year.**

 **So there is all of that, here is the next chapter focusing on Spencer.**

 **As always, please let me know in the reviews what you are thinking and what you would like to see. I love hearing what you all think!**

 **Thanks**

* * *

 **Spencer**

Veronica made her way back into the room after checking in on the others. Toby was sitting next to the bed, intently looking over at Spencer. Veronica could see the evidence that probably as soon as she walked out of the room he had broken down, his eyes were red and there were tear stains going down his cheeks.

Peter was sitting on the couch on the far side of the room seemingly staring at the wall until he heard his wife walk back into the room.

"How is everyone?" He moved over to one side of the couch so she could sit down next to him. He run his hand up and down her back to try and calm her down when he saw just how tense she was.

"Okay, for now. Once they wake up it's a different story." Veronica said with a huff. "Aria is …. It was rough. She has a collapsed lung and is still intubated. The wound on her side was pretty bad." She paused for a moment. "It was so hard seeing her like that. It made me appreciate how unscathed Spencer is."

"Wow. Yea, Spencer got lucky. Though, we'll see if we are saying the same thing once she wakes up." Was all Peter could really say.

"I know. That is the thing I am most scared about. We have no idea what they went through. What if after all of this, it isn't something they can come back from? The little bit of research i've done on people held captive as long as they have, hasn't given me the most hope that our lives are going to be any form of normal for quite some time, if ever again."

"All we can do is support them and be there for them and be there to be anything they need."

Peter will always feel like he will never be good enough to protect his family. Time after time A has been able to get to and torture his daughter and her friends and he was oblivious to it all. So much of this could have been avoided if any of them had really noticed. He was always so absorbed in his work and his personal life that he didn't realize what was going on in his own family.

He looked over at his wife who was bent over with her hands on the back of her neck with her head down. Through this entire situation he can't say anything had gotten better as far as their relationship went. If anything, it had gotten worse. He was spending more and more time at his law office trying to figure out what went wrong in the investigation in trying to find the girls.

He had gone into overdrive as soon as they had discovered the dollhouse.

Right under their nose, they had literally been right under their nose and so close this whole time. The area about half a mile from the site of the dollhouse had been searched around Thanksgiving around 5 months after the girls first went missing. How could they have missed it?

Something one of his associates had suggested was looking into the police department. Doing an investigation into how they could have A get away with this for so long.

When Peter brought up the suggestion to Veronica and she was immediately against it.

"They brought our daughter back to us. Do you really think the best way to repay them is to turn around the investigate them?" Veronica said to him as they had waited for the first update on Spencer.

"Don't you think we could have had her back a hell of alot sooner if things had been done differently? I mean, how can you explain the fact that they were being housed just a half a mile away from the area they searched in November?"

Veronica was quiet for a moment. She had looked around to the other parents in the room and seeing the look on their faces, scared out of their minds about their daughters, but relieved to have them back. "We can't Peter. A fooled all of us, we can't throw all the blame on them. Let's just focus now on the fact that Spencer is alive and start and try to move past this."

Veronica placed both of her hands over Peters crossed arms, trying to calm him down and make him realize that having their daughter back was enough.

"It's not fair that we were cheated out of a year of her life, a year that should have been one of the best and it was taken away from us."

"I know, and trust me, i'm not happy about it either. Right now, let's get her healthy and we will concentrate on making up for lost time."

Shortly after that they had been called to Spencer's room and all thoughts of investigating the Police department went on the back burner for the moment.

At a nearby hotel, Melissa was sitting on the balcony of their room. Sleep we nearly impossible for her since her mind wouldn't shut down. Something that didn't help, their room had a good view of the hospital. Even though the Hastings house wasn't too far, she wanted to be close in case anything happened with Spencer.

Every time Melissa tried to shut her eyes and get some form of rest, she would see images of Spencer and all of the girls in the dollhouse, she would imagine what kinds of things they had gone through over the past 12 months and it was just all too much for her.

Over the past year she had been trying to keep a distance from the investigation. It wasn't that she didn't want to help find her sister and her friends, it wasn't that at all. If she was being honest with herself, she, like many others, will never be able to fully forgive themselves for the small role they played in the girls being taken and this entire fiasco.

"Come to bed love. You haven't slept in days." Melissa heard Wren say from behind her as he made his way onto the balcony. He sat beside her at a distance, letting her decide how much physical contact she needed right now.

"I don't get it. How could anyone be so sick and so twisted" Melissa not holding back her disdain and hatred, "to keep them all for a year and then just give them up, almost killing them in the process?"

"From what you've told me about A, that sounds exactly like something they would do."

"When they first went missing, everyone thought they would find them quickly. Most of A's plans would have a quick resolve before finding a new way to torture someone else or them in a new way. Now they figured out, everything up until that point was just a distraction while they set up the dollhouse." Melissa paused as she wiped a few tears from her eyes. "How could all of us have missed it?"

Wren pulled her into his arms. "No one knew this was ever a possibility and everyone did everything they could to try and bring the girls back as fast as they could, A was just always one step ahead."  
"If I ever find out who did this to them, I swear i'm gonna -"

Wren cut her off, "Anything you want to do, would make you just as bad as they are. We just have to believe that they will get what's coming to them. You losing sleep isn't going to help the situation. Now," Wren stood up, bringing her with him. "Let's go to bed. It's going to be a long day tomorrow. Most of the girls are going to be weaned off of their sedatives and everyone is going to need as much support as they can get."

The pair got to bed and were able to get a few hours of sleep before they were woken up by the high pitched squeal of Melissa's cellphone.

"Hello?" Melissa said franticly.

Wren wasn't able to make out who was on the other line, but by the smile and tears that instantly started to fall down her face gave him a pretty good idea what the news was.

"We'll be right there." Melissa said before hanging up the phone. Wren looked at her with hope in his eyes. "She's awake."

He ran over to her and picked her up, planting a quick kiss on her lips. He put her down so they could both finish getting ready and head to the hospital.

* * *

 **ICU Wing**

As Wren and Melissa made their way down the hallways to Spencer's room, they saw the crowd formed around the window and at first it made a pit form in her stomach until she saw her mom standing right outside. She ran to her and straight into her waiting arms.

"How is she?" Melissa asked franticly.

"Okay. It was a little shaky when she first woke up. She was pretty agitated until they brought in Toby. He's in there now with Dr. Sullivan and Dr. Michelle."

Sure enough, Melissa looked in the room and propped up in bed was Spencer awake and talking. She looked exhausted besides being asleep for well over 12 hours and she had a firm grip on Toby's hand who was sitting next to her on the bed.

"Dr. Sullivan was telling us that there is a possibility since she had this reaction to Toby, that it might be awhile before we can talk to her. They want to be as careful with her as they can after everything she's gone through and that long term captive victims sometimes will gravitate towards one person in the early stages of their recovery, especially if, like Spencer, Toby was one of the first people to see her."

"Did you guys get to talk with her?"

"For a few moments when she first woke up. We weren't able to say much before she realized Toby wasn't there, he had just stepped out for a moment. One she stated to have a reaction, they moved us out here to calm her down and got Toby into the room."

 **Flashback**

 _Veronica had taken residence in the chair next to Spencer's bed. Toby had momentarily left to go grab coffee for them while Peter stood at the window, looking out when a slight sound broke their silence. Both of their eyes flashed to Spencer and they were surprised when they saw her eyes staring back at them._

" _Oh Spencer." Veronica cried._

 _Spencer stayed silent, even with two people in the room, she was overwhelmed. This was the moment she had been waiting for. She had missed her parents so much but right now she didn't really know how to process everything. The one thing she did know was she wanted Toby._

 _Quickly, she started to hyperventilate and her heart rate went up. Nurses rushed in as Spencer started to yell for Toby, her voice raspy and dry from the lack of water so while she felt like she was screaming when in reality it was coming out at hardly over a whisper._

 _Peter and Veronica were ushered out of the room as nurses and doctors helped calm Spencer down, though nothing was working since they were trying to keep her meds intake to a minimum._

 _Toby heard this as he was coming back down the hallway. He instantly dropped all the coffee he was carrying and ran straight into the the room, pausing at the doorway to take everything in. Spencer's head snapped to him and she instantly went silence. Her face was frozen for a moment before her face scrunched up as a new wave of tears started running down her face. Toby was at her side in an instant, gathering her in his arms and holding her tight, never wanting to let her go or ever let anything happen to her ever again. He whispered comforting things in her ear as her breath evened out to a more normal rhythm._

 **Present**

Melissa and Wren stayed outside the room while Peter and Veronica cautiously went into the room.

"Let Spencer make the first move." Dr. Sullivan whispered to them just as they walked in the door. Spencer was sitting against Toby who was behind her on the bed with his arms wrapped protectively around her.

They walked slowly walked closer to the bed until they were at the end. The four people in the room stared at each other, all scared to make the first move as to not spook Spencer.

"I don't really know what to say. Every time I try to recall anything, it comes back in flashes or my mind just goes blank. I don't know what to tell you." Spencer said.

"You don't have to tell us anything you don't want to sweetheart." Veronica's voice broke more and more with each word. "We're just happy you're okay."

"I don't feel okay."

"That's okay right now." Dr. Sullivan said making her way more into the room. "After everything you guys went through, it's okay to say that you're not okay." She turned her attention more to the family members in room and also waved in Wren and Melissa. "Something I was telling Spencer is that she is going to have to be honest with us about what's she's feeling if there is any real hope of her getting better. You all will play a part in that by keeping her honest. If you feel like she isn't telling you the truth, ask her about it but don't push too much, at least not right now, we don't want to cause any more trauma. If it's something that you think could be detrimental to her, come to us and we will handle it. This is going to be a long process but together, we will get you and all the other girls through this. We will leave you guys alone to catch up. Please have us paged if you need us."

"Thank you." Everyone said to the pair of psychologists as they made their way out of the room.

"You guys should sit down. This is going to take awhile to try and explain."

Everyone pulled up chairs around Spencer's bed, Toby staying with Spencer on the bed, Spencer snuggling in closer to him if that was even possible. She felt very safe in his arms.

"Take your time sweetheart." Veronica softly said.

"Okay … um … it started when we were taken on our way to the courthouse. A took us to the bunker and when we all woke up we were in replicas of our rooms. We were all allowed to see each other at first. As time went on A would keep us locked in our rooms for what felt like days or weeks at a time. We tried to get out a few days after we were taken. A had us plan this weird prom and we rigged a camera to short the power out so we could try and escape. Obviously it didn't work. A had the electric fence outside on and left us outside for days without any food or water in the sun and rain." Spencer's eyes wandered out to the window where it had started to rain. "We thought they were just going to leave us out there to die."

Toby placed a soft kiss to the side of her head. "How did you guys get back into the bunker?"

"After a few days the doors just opened and the voice said to go back to our rooms. Aria made a comment about how we didn't want to go back in but we were more scared of staying outside so we went back in. After that, we only saw each other a few times until Christmas. After that we saw each other every night for three minutes when the generator turned off. During those minutes we tried to figure out how to get out. Sometimes we would all just stand in the hallway hugging each other trying to just keep ourselves grounded in reality." Spencer snapped her eyes back to her family and perked up, pulling herself slightly away from Toby. "How are the others" She asked frantically.

"Mostly okay. Emily has a broken wrist and a sprained knee, doctors say there is a chance she might need more surgery and might not be able to swim again. Hanna had her spleen removed, Mona has some broken ribs but not as much malnutrition as the rest of you guys and then there is Aria." Peter said.

"What's wrong with Aria?"

Peter and Veronica looked to Wren to help explain more of the medical information. "Aria was hurt pretty badly in the explosion. She landed on a tree branch that embedded itself into her side. She had to have emergency surgery and she ended up with a collapsed lung and an infection. She made it through the surgery. She has a chest tube and is the only one of you all still intubated but they say she is going to make a full recovery."

Spencer was in tears by the time Wren finished talking.

"We can give you a break if it's too much." Melissa said.

"No it's okay. I think this is more relief that while this is going to take awhile to get over, we all made it out okay and we will get through this. You guys found us, we were starting to think that we were never going to get out of there. I can't believe you guys found us."

"Of course we did. We were never going to stop until you brought you girls home. We only wish we could have gotten to you before the house exploded."

"We know you guys were doing all you could to try and get to us. Tell me about the investigation."

"It's been centered at our house and in the barn for about the last nine months. It's been around the clock pretty much since they day you guys were taken. Around Thanksgiving we there was actually a search of an area near where you guys were being held but they didn't find anything." Peter said.

"Everyone was helping out when they could. Toby, Ezra, Caleb and Ali I don't think have slept very much in the past year." Veroinca said giving a nod to Toby.

"You did actually get some sleep right?" Spencer asked looking over her shoulder to her boyfriend.

"Only when I would have dropped dead otherwise. The only thing that mattered to me was find you safe." Toby smiled and was surprised when Spencer returned the gaze and leaned up to give him a quick kiss.

"Everyone is going to be relieved to hear that you are awake and okay." Melissa said. She got up and moved closer to Spencer's side. "Can I talk to her alone for a minute? If that's okay?" Melissa looked to Spencer to make sure that wouldn't be too much for her.

"Yea that's okay." Toby looked to her with a concerned face. "I'll be fine, plus I know you'll be right outside. I can handle it, I promise."

"Okay." Toby detangled himself from Spencer before moving off the bed and out of the room with the rest of the family, leaving Spencer and Melissa alone.

Melissa perched herself on the side of the bed and was silent for a few moments before starting to speak, although slowly since she really didn't know where to start.

"I'm not going to lie to you. I wasn't around much during the investigation." She was looking down at her hands, scared to make eye contact with Spencer. "I think a part of me couldn't get over the part I played in all of this."

"You have nothing to do with us being kidnapped."

"I know that … but I can't ignore the fact that I didn't make things easy for you, your friends and Ali. Who knows how things would have been different if I had been nicer, or not been involved with Ian, things could have been so much different."

Spencer sat up a bit more in bed and moved her hand over to Melissa's. Melissa looked down to where their hands were joined. When she looked up they both had tears in their eyes.

"We are all safe. That's what we need to focus on. A didn't win. We still have alot to go through, getting all of us back to normal and finding A and finally ending this, but we can only do that if we put what has happened behind us and move forward."

Melissa wiped the tears away and pulled Spencer into a hug. They held on for a few moments before separating. They were just looking at each other in comfortable silence when there was a slight knock on the door. After a few seconds Toby popped his head in.

"How are we doing in here?"

"Good." Melissa said. She got up and started to walk towards the door. "I think I am going to head out and give you guys some time. We'll talk more later ….. Love you Spencer." Melissa said with a genuine smile.

"Love you too sis," she said with a smile back.

Melissa stayed for just a moment before making her way out of the room.

Toby pulled up one of the chairs as close to the bed as he could.

"How are you doing? Really?"

Spencer was silent, not sure how to answer. She took a few moments just looking at Toby. As the moments went on, Toby could see her walls come down and the tears starting to fall down her face. He was conflicted in that moment, wanting to hold her but also knowing what Dr. Sullivan had said about them needing to have the time to work through what they were feeling knowing they were there supporting them but not trying to smother.

"I don't know. I love being back and around everyone but its a lot to take in all at once. Can you just let everyone know I think I need a few hours."

"Are you sure? I don't know if you should be alone."

"I think you're company is about all I can handle right now. Can you come here?" Spencer said, making room for him on the bed to join her.

Toby sent a quick text off to Peter and Veronica, took off his shoes and joined her on the bed. He gathered her into his arms but let her decide just how close she wanted to be. He was surprised when she snuggled in very close, he took that as a clue to pull her in tight.

"I can hear your wheels turning from here. What's going on in that pretty mind of yours?"

"I think it is going to take time for the feeling of being watched to go away. While I love being back and being around all of you, I can't shake the feeling that I am still being watched. I need some time and there is no one else I could imagine spending time with than you." She looked up at him, "I missed so much. I had one picture of you that I would stare at for hours, wondering if I would ever be able to be in your arms again."

"I will be here as long as you need me. Relax, everything is going to be okay."

He looked down when she didn't respond to find that she was already fast asleep. He smiled, planted a kiss on the top of her head before settling down for a nap himself.


End file.
